Take Me All The Way Down
by jdc15
Summary: Beca and Chloe force the rest of the Bellas, plus Aubrey, to join them on a weeklong road trip after the Worlds competition.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Take Me All The Way Down  
 **Chapter:** 1/3  
 **Author:** jdc15  
 **Rating:** M/NC-17  
 **Word Count:** About 6.3k  
 **Summary:** Beca and Chloe force the rest of the Bellas, plus Aubrey, to join them on a weeklong road trip after the Worlds competition. _  
_ **Note 1:** Title taken from G-Eazy's "Let's Get Lost." **  
Note 2:** More angst…you've been warned.  
 **Note 3:** Go check out my tumblr: (www . staubrey-fanfiction . tumblr . com) It's dedicated to listing all of the best Staubrey fics I've found. You can also leave prompt there and I'll fill them!

 _Stacie_

The day they win the Worlds Championship is a great day, probably tied with the day she received her acceptance letter to Johns Hopkins. The fact that they beat every other group at the competition, and are now ranked number one in the entire world, is kind of unbelievable.

The after party is amazing, which is to be expected, as Fat Amy was the organizer. There is not a surface that doesn't host at least one bottle of liquor, and Stacie's hammered within an hour. Aubrey shows up just as Stacie's taking a body shot off of Chloe's boobs, and she nearly chokes on the liquor when their eyes meet. Aubrey looks half intrigued, half weirded out, and Stacie gets that funny tightening in her chest that always shows up when Aubrey's around. She gives her a wave, and the blonde smiles and nods at her before heading to the counter for a drink.

Another hour later, no one's anywhere near sober and they while the night away playing stupid drinking games and taking racier and racier shots off each other. When Stacie's pressed to the bed by Aubrey and a shot is balanced on her stomach, she bites her lip, hard, abs twitching as Aubrey licks the salt off her skin. Their lips nearly brush when Aubrey takes the lime from her teeth, and Stacie is about to yank Aubrey down on top of her when the blonde straightens up with a wink and walks away.

/

The next morning, Chloe complicates everyone's life by announcing a road trip. She claims that everyone agreed to it the night before, and leaves absolutely no room for arguments.

"It's really short, only one week," she tells them. "None of you have anything important to do in the next week. The only ones going to grad school are Stacie and Jessica and they don't have to leave for another two weeks, I checked."

Stacie looks incredulously at Beca. "You're okay with this?"

"I kind of have to be," Beca mutters, looking slightly murderous. "If I bail on this, I've got no chance of convincing her to move to LA with me."

"Fine," Stacie sighs, and turns back to Chloe. "When do we leave?"

/

They decide to take three cars to avoid being excessively crowded, so Chloe, Aubrey, and Fat Amy volunteer to drive. Aubrey tried to weasel out, stating a responsibility to watch over the lodge, but Chloe stood firm: _"you're the manager, Bree, you can do whatever you want."_

They all regret the decision to try and get on the road by noon, because by half past one, Fat Amy is still nowhere to be found and it takes another hour for her to answer her phone. She claims to have been defending herself from a burglar, but her groggy voice and rumpled appearance when she finally rolls up says otherwise.

Chloe, to her credit, only yells a little, and then she's herding them into the cars and peeling out of the driveway before anyone can delay things further.

It's only when Stacie has called shotgun in Aubrey's car and is settled with a map in her lap that she realizes she doesn't even know where they're going on this stupid trip (which is starting to seem slightly less stupid now that she's sitting less than twelve inches from Aubrey). She rustles through the map but can't find any marked spots, and she looks questioningly at the blonde.

Aubrey shrugs and shakes her head. "Chloe's the only one who has an actual itinerary. She just gave me the address of tonight's hotel and told me to follow her there."

"Why is that not a surprise?" Stacie groans, pulling on her sunglasses. "I still can't believe I'm here right now. Where are we going today?"

"Asheville. North Carolina. I've been, it's really nice."

"Oh, I love Asheville. Okay, maybe this won't be completely unbearable," Stacie says with a laugh. Maybe she'll just stay in Asheville once they get there and they can pick her up on the way back to Georgia.

"I think this could be fun," Aubrey says, with half a glance at Stacie. "If we let it."

She turns the radio on and engages Jessica and Ashley in conversation, and Stacie is left to ponder exactly what she means.

/

She ends up texting Beca in an effort to get details of the trip out of her, but Beca claims Chloe has the itinerary well-guarded, even though Stacie is convinced that Beca is only saying that to cover her ass in case Chloe were to find out.

She glances at Aubrey. The girl is leaning forward in her seat slightly like she always does when she drives, hands gripping the wheel and brow furrowed. Stacie thinks it's cute, how hard Aubrey concentrates on the road, but she finds herself wishing they were alone in the car because the temptation to take Aubrey's hand in hers is mounting by the minute. It isn't like she thinks Jessica and Ashley would care, but they would absolutely blab to the rest of the girls and Stacie doesn't want anyone knowing anything, especially since she can't even be sure of where exactly she and Aubrey stand. So instead, she sighs and asks if they can stop for coffee.

Stacie texts Beca and Flo to let them know they're stopping, and they all decide to pull in to Starbucks. They make their way in to the mostly empty café and line up, Amy and Cynthia Rose pushing to the front and claiming they need caffeine immediately to help them deal with "sleep deprivation and driving a car holding nothing but the Mexican stripper and the crazy Asian." No one argues because, yeah, that really does suck. Stacie buys Emily a coffee because she feels sorry for the girl having to third-wheel with Beca and Chloe, and she buys Aubrey a coffee because she's cute and she tells her so when she presses it into her hand.

"Thank you," Aubrey says quietly, their fingers brushing when she takes the paper cup.

"No problem," Stacie says with a wink, and Aubrey's blush is almost enough to make her lean in and kiss her, but they're in public and she still has lot of doubts about how Aubrey feels about her, so she steps away and leads the way back to the cars.

/

She ends up falling asleep and when she wakes up hours later she's covered by Aubrey's jacket. She glances questioningly at the girl and Aubrey colors a little, but only says, "You looked cold."

"Thanks," Stacie says, and Aubrey nods but says nothing. Stacie risks a glance to the backseat and sees Jessica and Ashley asleep almost on top of each other. She smiles because they really are adorable, and then turns back to Aubrey and studies her until the girl looks back at her, eyebrows raised.

"What?"

"Nothing," Stacie shrugs. "You just look pretty." She _does_ look beautiful; the sun is going down and the dark orange glow streaked across Aubrey's face makes it really hard for Stacie to keep her hands to herself.

"I—thank you," Aubrey stammers, bringing a clearly self-conscious hand up to run through her hair, and Stacie bites her lip because now it's adorably tousled and all she wants to do is run her fingers through it and—

"Should we stop for dinner?" Aubrey says, rather loudly, like she knows exactly where Stacie's thoughts were heading. "Jess? Ashley?"

They call in to the others that they're stopping. It's been close to three hours and Stacie starts to feel bad about sleeping through it, but Aubrey waves off her concern, reassuring her that she likes to drive and not to worry about it.

/

It turns out that Chloe pre-booked the hotel, which is good since no one else thought to ask about hotel arrangements. Once they've all scarfed down burgers from Applebee's, they split up into pairs for sharing rooms and pile back into the cars to head over. Stacie and Aubrey end up paired together, and Stacie feels weird about it, like she isn't sure whether to be happy or nervous, because she doesn't know how comfortable Aubrey will be with the situation. She risks a glance at Aubrey and finds the other girl looking curiously at her. She blushes and looks away quickly, burying her nose in her phone and letting Jessica and Ashley's chatter fill the uncomfortable silence.

/

It's nearly nine o'clock by the time they reach the hotel, and everyone is tired and cranky from either driving, bickering, or eating too many French fries. Stacie finds herself wondering whether they'll all last through the entire trip if they're already at each other's throats by the first night. The only person who seems to be in a somewhat decent mood is Chloe, but that's not a surprise to anyone.

They've been put in five adjacent rooms on the sixth floor, so they all squeeze into one elevator for the ride up. No one really says anything and there's a general feeling of resentment in the air. Chloe appears to be choosing to ignore it and hums softly to herself, arm linked with Beca's.

They spill out into the hallway with much cursing and stumbling over duffel bags, but finally they've paired off and everyone disappears into their respective rooms.

"Everybody better be down for breakfast at nine!" Chloe yells after them before Beca yanks her away.

/

Stacie can feel Aubrey's gaze on her back for the entirety of the thirty seconds it takes her to locate the key card and unlock the door. She grits her teeth and tries not to glance over at her as she pushes the door open.

"Which bed do you want?" she asks without turning around.

"Doesn't matter," Aubrey says, so Stacie drops her bag on the nearest one and unzips it, rummaging through it so as not to have to look at the girl.

"I'm going to take a shower. Do you need the bathroom first?"

"No, go ahead. Thanks," Stacie says. She almost wishes Aubrey wasn't so damned nice, because it makes it awfully hard to ignore her.

The blonde disappears into the bathroom and Stacie flops onto her bed, turning on the TV just for something to fill the silence.

/

As soon as Aubrey emerges from the bathroom with wet hair sending droplets of water over her shoulders, wearing a tank top and sweatpants, Stacie hops off the bed and announces she needs a shower too, not giving Aubrey a chance to get a single word out.

She lingers as long as she thinks she can get away with before returning to find Aubrey sitting on the bed, combing her hair and humming to some song that's playing on the television.

She looks up when Stacie walks in. "Hey," she smiles. "How was your shower?"

"Good," Stacie says awkwardly. "I was really sweaty, so—"

She realizes that is a ridiculous thing to say, so she cuts herself off, knowing she's bright red. She thinks she catches Aubrey smirking, just a little, but she turns away to look for her hairbrush and keeps her mouth shut.

She takes a seat on her bed and starts combing through her hair, wishing she could skip it and turn her lamp off but knowing that she'll never get a brush through it again if she doesn't do it now. She trains her eyes onto the TV where some obscure comedy show is playing. They sit in silence for close to ten minutes before Aubrey heaves a sigh and Stacie sees her sit up out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey, you okay?"

Stacie shuts her eyes for a second. She had been about thirty seconds away from being able to go to sleep. "Yeah, I'm fine," she says, hoping her voice sounds steadier than she thinks. "Why?"

"I don't know, you're just…quieter than usual."

Stacie shrugs in response. She isn't quite sure how to respond to that.

"Did I do something?" Aubrey sounds strangely vulnerable and Stacie finally turns to look at her.

"No, Bree, you didn't do anything. I'm just tired, I think."

"Okay," Aubrey says. She looks unconvinced but thankfully doesn't press the issue.

"I'm going to go to sleep," Stacie says, hoping she isn't coming off as rude, but she probably is. "Sorry to be anti-social."

"It's fine," Aubrey says. "Sleep sounds like a pretty good idea." She laughs a little but it sounds forced, and does nothing to ease the tension. "Good night."

"Night." Stacie feels like a dick but she doesn't seem to be able to say anything remotely intelligent, so she clicks her lamp off and pulls the blanket up, staring up at the ceiling and clenching the sheet in her hands. She hopes Aubrey is done talking because Stacie's pretty sure she'll jump her if one more word comes out of her mouth.

/

She wakes up a few minutes before her alarm, curled into a ball with a pillow in her arms. She rolls over and stretches, eyes landing immediately on Aubrey. The girl is splayed out on her stomach, starfishing across the entire bed. It's kind of adorable and Stacie totally stares like a creeper until her alarm goes off, and she leaps off the bed and into the bathroom just as Aubrey is beginning to stir.

When she comes out a few moments later, Aubrey has opened the curtains and is standing by the window.

"Good morning," Stacie says quietly, forcing herself to make an effort, and is rewarded with a small smile from the other girl.

"Morning," Aubrey says, before gesturing at the window. "I hope it doesn't keep raining all day."

Stacie glances out the window and notices that it's pouring, the space heater under the window drowning the noise. "Oh, yeah. Hopefully it stops so we don't miss Asheville."

"You said you've been here before, right?"

"Yeah. I used to live in North Carolina and my cousin went to UNC Asheville for college. It's amazing here," Stacie says with a smile. She really does love this place.

"That's awesome." Aubrey tilts her head a little, and the feeble grey light coming through the window and playing across her face makes her look pale, almost ethereal, and Stacie feels ridiculously cliché for likening her to an angel, but that's exactly what she resembles.

"What?" she says, and Stacie realizes she's been caught staring.

"Nothing." Stacie pastes a smile on her face. "Are you ready to go to breakfast?"

/

Breakfast is overshadowed by a general gloominess; no one seems to have gotten enough sleep and the rain doesn't show any signs of letting up. Even Chloe seems uncharacteristically exhausted, and Stacie can't help wondering what happened between her and Beca the night before, especially since Beca isn't flinching from Chloe's touch like she usually does when they're in public. She raises her eyebrows at Chloe across the table and receives a blush in response, which means Stacie will absolutely be forcing details out of her later.

"So what are we doing today?" Ashley asks, and everyone looks to Chloe.

"Um…we _were_ going to go downtown first, but the weather's not exactly ideal," Chloe stammers. She looks guilty, like the fact that it's raining is her fault.

"So what's the backup plan?" Fat Amy prods.

"Well…" Chloe looks helpless and turns to Beca for assistance.

Beca looks slightly panicked. "What?"

Chloe tries to glare at her, but clearly isn't able to, so instead her expression looks only mildly chastising. Beca opens her mouth, shuts it, and then says, "We could just go anyway?"

Chloe looks like she was expecting something totally different to come out of Beca's mouth (probably something along the lines of, 'we could stay in our hotel room all day and make out'), but she just claps her hands once and then announces, "Okay then. The show goes on! Everyone be ready to go in an hour!"

"What, so now the scrawny chipmunk's word is law?" Fat Amy grumbles. Chloe fixes her with a glare that could melt a steel beam, and Amy backs down immediately. "Chipmunks are cute," she backtracks. "I was calling her cute." She stands and hurries away, hands full of bagels.

Chloe looks at the rest of them like she doesn't know why they're still sitting there, so Stacie clears her throat and leaves the table. She shoots an amused glance at Chloe, but the girl refuses to meet her eyes, so Stacie flashes her a thumbs-up and walks away.

She gets all the way to the room before she remembers that Aubrey has the room key, so she stands outside the door like an idiot until Aubrey shows up five minutes later with a grin. "Forgot something?"

"Maybe."

Aubrey unlocks the door and then stands back to let her walk in. "What was the thumbs-up you gave Chloe for?"

Stacie laughs. "She and Beca totally hooked up last night."

"Oh, I know," Aubrey says, and it's so far from what Stacie was expecting her to say that she just stares at her. "What? They're basically in love with each other," Aubrey says with a shrug. "It's pretty obvious. Plus, I know Chloe well enough to tell when she got some the night before."

"Oh my god, are you serious?"

"What? It's true, and I'm happy for her. She was pretty tense about organizing this whole road trip thing, so I'm glad Beca's here to help her out, even if that girl _still_ needs an attitude adjustment."

"She isn't that bad when you get to know her," Stacie protests. "I think she's adorable."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, definitely," Stacie says, biting her lip and grinning. Something about the way they're bantering back and forth is bringing back her good mood and flirty inclinations, and she's doing her best to put her doubts aside. Friends can flirt with each other. People do it all the time. "I'd hit that."

"Ew!" Aubrey squeals, throwing a pillow at her. "Don't even joke about that!"

"What if I'm not joking?" Stacie smirks.

Aubrey covers her eyes with her hands. "Stacie, oh my god, be quiet. I don't want to think about that."

"Don't be such a prude. Maybe you're the one who needs to 'get some.'"

Aubrey throws another pillow at her and turns away, but not before Stacie catches the blush on her face.

/

Stacie has to bite her tongue to keep from commenting on how cute Aubrey looks in her coat, hat, and scarf. She seems to be doing that a lot lately. "Ready to go?" she asks instead, pulling her own hat down over her ears.

"You look cute," Aubrey says unexpectedly.

"Thanks," Stacie says, wishing now that she'd said it to Aubrey first. "So do you."

/

Their hotel is only a five minute drive from downtown Asheville so they park behind a restaurant and hop out of the cars, scrambling to open umbrellas and huddle together, though the rain has let up to a light drizzle. "Where to first?" Aubrey asks, turning to Chloe.

"Well, I thought we could just maybe wander around? We can split up if we want, and maybe meet here for lunch in an hour or so?" Chloe looks like she wants to whisk Beca away and no one really wants to get in the way of that, so they all nod and disperse. Stacie steps closer to Aubrey, leaning down a little to ask where she wants to go.

"I don't know," Aubrey shrugs. "Wanna just walk around a little?"

"Sure," Stacie agrees, and she's careful not to stay too close to Aubrey as they set off along the sidewalk.

They wander along for a while in silence. Stacie kind of feels like she's home. She loves North Carolina more than anywhere else she's ever lived, and so many of her younger memories live in this city; Thanksgiving with her aunt and uncle, tours of the college after high school, weekend trips to music festivals.

"Want to get a smoothie?" Aubrey asks suddenly, pointing to a Jamba Juice just ahead.

The rain is starting to pick up again, so Stacie agrees and they duck inside, shaking their umbrellas off and leaning them by the door. The shop is nearly empty, so they go straight to the counter. They order and Aubrey pays before Stacie can stop her. She tries to hand her some money, but Aubrey waves her off with an amused smile.

"Where to next?" Stacie asks once they've left.

"The park?"

Stacie raises an eyebrow. "It's pouring rain."

"So?"

Stacie shakes her head. "Okay, the park."

/

They've just reached the park when a gust of wind steals Aubrey's umbrella, and it blows away before catching on a bench. Stacie doubles over laughing at her horrified expression, but it turns to a yelp when Aubrey shoves her and she lands on a nearby bush, sinking into it before bouncing back. Her umbrella flies away and she throws a punch at Aubrey that misses its mark. "You bitch!"

Aubrey's the one laughing now. "It's only fair." She extends a hand to help Stacie up, but instead Stacie yanks her down into the bush and tackles her. Their combined weight flattens the bush and they roll onto the ground, covered in leaves and seizing with laughter.

"Sorry," Stacie offers once she's caught her breath and they've climbed to their feet. "I couldn't resist."

Aubrey just shakes her head, reaching to pick bits of leaf out of Stacie's hair. "I should have seen that coming," she admits.

"You deserved it."

"Oh, shut up." Aubrey smacks her on the shoulder and wipes the rain out of her eyes. Their laughter trails away and they stand catching their breath, rain falling hard and fast over them. Stacie's hair is sticking to her face and she wishes she'd pulled it back before they left.

"God, I'm soaking wet," Stacie says, and suddenly realizes how dirty that sounds. Aubrey gives her a look, and there's a moment when they could laugh again, but it passes and is replaced by a much different feeling.

And then Aubrey kisses her, and it's so shocking but at the same time feels like something's falling into place. Stacie kisses her back instantly, her hands running up Aubrey's back to tangle in her hair. Aubrey tastes like peppermint chapstick and chocolate-raspberry and Stacie suddenly appreciates the Jamba Juice smoothie a lot more, because it tastes really fucking good on Aubrey's tongue when she flicks it into Stacie's mouth.

Aubrey nips Stacie's lip lightly before running her tongue over it, her hands squeezing Stacie's waist. Their noses brush as Stacie tilts her head to kiss Aubrey more deeply, and she really likes how it feels so she does it again. Aubrey whimpers a little into her mouth and she presses her body as close as possible into Stacie's.

Stacie tilts Aubrey's head back and her lips linger on her jaw as the rainwater runs down over them, fingers tracing her throat and scratching lightly over her collarbones. She's never kissed anyone in the rain before, and she has to admit that it's just as good as they make it seem in the movies. Maybe better. Aubrey gasps and her hand comes up to circle just once around Stacie's breast, and Stacie presses desperately into the touch, and then suddenly Aubrey's pulling away with a hand against Stacie's stomach to keep her back.

"What's wrong?" Stacie pants, leaning in again, but is stopped by Aubrey's hand pushing insistently against her. "Are you okay?"

"We—we shouldn't," Aubrey whispers.

"Shouldn't what?"

"Do this," Aubrey sighs. Her eyes dart around, settling everywhere but on Stacie. "Do anything, when all we have is two more weeks and then you're leaving."

Stacie lets her forehead fall forward against Aubrey's and they just stand together like that for long moments until finally Stacie pushes herself away and nods. "You're right. We shouldn't. It won't end well."

"No, it won't," Aubrey says, sounding both disappointed and relieved. "We should just go back to being friends."

"Friends," Stacie agrees. She takes another step back, feeling like her proximity to Aubrey is still muddling her thoughts. The rain comes down between them, its drops feeling suddenly colder than they did only moments ago, and she begins to shiver.

"Friends," Aubrey repeats. "Is that okay?"

 _It has to be_. "Of course."

"Okay." Aubrey lets out a sigh. They stand there for another moment until Stacie clears her throat and moves away.

"I guess we should go back, then?"

Aubrey nods and Stacie turns her back on her, eyes starting to sting as she leads the way to the restaurant.

/

Stacie isn't particularly religious but she still begs god, or whoever, that they aren't the first ones to the restaurant. She lets out a breath when she sees Beca, Chloe, Fat Amy, and Cynthia Rose sitting together at a large table in the back, and rushes in to take the seat next to Beca. Aubrey follows a few steps behind her and squeezes in by Cynthia Rose. Beca shoots a questioning glance at Stacie, eyebrows raised, but Stacie just shakes her head and Beca looks away.

"So where'd you guys go?" Chloe asks conversationally.

"The park," Aubrey says. Stacie picks up a menu and looks it over, trying to forget the way Aubrey's lips felt against her own, how she was so warm in contrast to the rain, how her hand felt on her chest, even for just a moment, and—

She presses her thighs together under the table and shuts her eyes for a second, shaking her head in an attempt to clear it, but is unsuccessful is removing the fog of sudden arousal that claims her body. She doesn't know why this is happening; all they did was kiss.

/

Despite the terrible weather, everyone seems to be fairly cheerful, and they discuss plans for the rest of the day. Stacie doesn't miss the fact that Beca and Chloe start holding hands halfway through the meal, and while she's happy for them, a sharp pang of jealousy hits her square in the chest. She picks her way through the salad on her plate, suddenly feeling sick. Aubrey is refusing to even look at her and she's starting to think their friendship is over.

"Are you okay?" Beca asks under her breath.

Stacie sighs and shakes her head a little. "I don't feel very well," she admits.

"What's wrong?" Chloe asks, noticing the exchange. "Stace, are you okay? You look kind of pale."

"Yeah, I'm not feeling well," Stacie repeats, standing up. "I think I might go back to the hotel, if you guys don't mind."

"Do you want me to come with?" Beca asks, half-rising from her seat.

"No, everyone stay here." She drops some money on the table and they wave her off sympathetically. She manages to make it into her car before she lets her head drop to the steering wheel and loses it.

She doesn't know why she's acting like this. It isn't like either of them said their friendship was over, so she tells herself to quit being such a little bitch and go back in there, but she can't so instead she finds herself putting the car in gear and pulling out of the parking lot.

/

As soon as she makes it the hotel room she sheds her clothes and steps into the shower, letting the hot water run over her body and wash away the morning's confusion. Suddenly tired, she leans against the wall, holding out her hand and mindlessly watching the water run down and over her palm, moving her fingers to make miniature waterfalls that splay in five different directions.

She thinks back to the park again, the shower making the memory that much more vivid. She tries to make herself be annoyed with Aubrey, for kissing her and then turning around and saying they can only be friends, but she can't. She begrudgingly admits to herself that starting something would be foolish, but can't help thinking that it would be worth it. She only wishes Aubrey would feel the same.

/

Its only when the water starts to run cold that she realizes how distracted she is. She shuts off the faucet and steps out, wrapping herself in a towel and gathering her clothes from the floor. She's looking forward to having a bit of time alone, maybe vegging out in front of shitty TV or taking a nap until it's time to meet everyone for dinner.

However, these plans are dashed when she enters the bedroom and a familiar figure is sitting on her bed. Stacie drops her clothes in shock and has to scramble to keep the towel up high enough around her chest.

"What are you doing here?"

Aubrey looks simultaneously guilty and determined. "I wanted to talk to you. I felt bad about what happened earlier, and…" She trails off and huffs a little. "Was I the reason you left earlier?"

"Kind of," Stacie shrugs, deciding honesty is the best option and trying to will her heart rate down. "But don't worry about it."

Aubrey wrings her hands in a way that tells Stacie she absolutely is worrying about it. "I'm sorry," she offers. "I shouldn't have done what I did, you know, in the park. It just made things way more complicated."

Stacie adjusts her towel a little and sees Aubrey's eyes drift to her chest. "Look," she starts. "I'm not mad at you, okay? You said we should just be friends, and I totally agree."

"Okay," Aubrey says, fidgeting with the sleeve of her button-down. "I'm glad you agree."

They stand for a moment, looking everywhere but at each other, before Aubrey clears her throat. "Well, I guess I'll take a shower," she says, standing and tucking her hair behind her ear. She's reminding Stacie a little of how she used to be in college, when anything and everything made her nervous, except now it's endearing instead of aggravating. So endearing, in fact, that Stacie reaches out to snag her arm as she passes. Aubrey stops dead and Stacie wants to kick herself, because now she has to find a way to explain that, but when she catches the look in Aubrey's eye she shoves her against the wall and kisses her instead.

/

There's no resistance in Aubrey's body as Stacie pins her to the wall, and her arms come up to cup Stacie's jaw. Aubrey pushes her back for just a moment, and Stacie is about to apologize when she realizes Aubrey just needed space to remove the towel. It slips down her body and pools on the floor, and Stacie starts to feel self-conscious when Aubrey's gaze roves over her body.

"Don't," Aubrey murmurs when Stacie moves to cross her arms. "You're perfect."

Stacie surges forward to kiss her again, beginning to unbutton Aubrey's shirt. She's hesitant, though, still unsure whether they will both follow through, even though she's currently naked with Aubrey's hands in her hair. When they're finally undone she peels the shirt back and Aubrey shrugs it down her arms, leaving her in a white bra, fringed with lace. Stacie runs her hands over it, feeling the small ridges in the material and wondering what the skin underneath would feel like. She decides that she can't wait any longer to find out, and Aubrey's breathing picks up as Stacie pops the clasp (with one hand, which she's pretty proud of) and the garment joins the shirt and towel on the floor.

She breaks their kiss for a moment, raising her hands to cup Aubrey's breasts. They're a perfect size and fit perfectly in her palms. She begins to knead them, thumbs pressing circles over her nipples, and Aubrey moans and yanks her back in for another kiss. This time, she slips her tongue into Stacie's mouth and then begins to maneuver her toward the bed.

When her legs hit the mattress, Stacie allows herself to be laid down onto it, Aubrey immediately straddling her and pressing her thigh between Stacie's legs. Stacie gasps and her hands fly to Aubrey's back, pulling their bodies together until their bare skin melds together. Aubrey hums lowly and leaves open-mouthed kisses across Stacie's neck. She lingers on her collarbones, lips closing over the protrusions, until Stacie flips them without warning and reaches for the button of Aubrey's jeans. She's suddenly desperate to touch her, so she slips her fingers under her underwear and begins working them against her as soon as her pants hit the floor.

Aubrey's head is thrown back, chest heaving, and she lets out a moan as Stacie slips two fingers into her and her mouth descends on her chest. She can't stop herself from scraping the nails of her free hand across Aubrey's ribcage and switching them until she's straddling the blonde, and the sound the girl produces in response is enough to make Stacie feel a little bit lightheaded.

She's not paying much attention to where Aubrey's hands are, so she's taken by surprise when one of them lands between her legs and then inside, matching the pace set by Stacie's. Stacie sits up a little until she can watch Aubrey underneath her, and observe how her expression changes when Stacie angles her fingers in a different direction. She grinds down onto Aubrey and leans into the hand that comes up to squeeze her breast. Aubrey rolls her nipple between her fingers, pinching a little when Stacie's fingers hit a particular spot inside of her.

"Right—right there," Aubrey gasps, and Stacie bites her lip, doing her best to repeat the movement. She's rewarded when Aubrey cries out and leans up on her elbows to meet Stacie in a kiss, moving her own hand more quickly between Stacie's legs. She slides her fingers out to circle around Stacie's clit before plunging them back inside and pushing Stacie backwards until she's flat on the bed again.

She trails kisses down her neck and to her chest where her lips wrap around her nipple, and Stacie raises her head to watch, mouth slightly open and breaths coming erratically. Finally Aubrey sits up and Stacie watches in amazement as she places one hand on Stacie's chest to hold herself steady before she begins rocking into her hand. Her blonde hair is wonderfully messy where it cascades over her shoulders, and Stacie tangles her hands in it, remembering how she'd wished to do exactly that in the car the day before.

Aubrey seizes suddenly and falls forward, and Stacie meets her halfway in a kiss. Aubrey's body relaxes after a moment, but she only pauses for a few seconds before her fingers resume their movements, hooking an arm around Stacie's thigh and guiding them to wrap around her waist before she begins thrusting into her. Stacie holds her down against her with her hands on her back, tracing patterns over the skin there until the heel of Aubrey's hand starts hitting her clit and she loses all motor functions. She comes quickly after that, gasping into Aubrey's mouth and then finally rolling over until they're on their sides facing each other.

She traces the lines of Aubrey's jaw as they kiss lazily, a shiver running through her when Aubrey's fingers slip out of her and her arm wraps around her waist. She kisses her deeply and Aubrey sighs against her lips, moving closer and draping her leg over Stacie's hip, bringing them as close as they can be. Stacie plays with the ends of her hair that fall down her back and slows the kiss to catch her breath a little.

She feels satisfied but at the same time there's something starting to nag at her inside of her chest.

/

The lie there under the sheet for close to an hour, the room silent except for the sound of the rain on the windows. They're just close enough for their noses to brush and Stacie plays absently with Aubrey's fingers, memorizing the shape of them.

Finally Aubrey clears her throat. "How do you feel?" she asks.

Stacie shrugs a little. "I don't know. Good, I think."

"Me too," Aubrey says softly.

"But I think we got ahead of ourselves," Stacie continues reluctantly. "Especially since we decided to avoid this."

"I don't want to jerk you around," Aubrey says. "I mean, I feel like I already kind of have, and I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Stacie says, because it isn't a big deal, not in this moment, when they're having this conversation. "Not any more than I have."

She feels Aubrey smile against her neck before she takes a deep breath. "I just—I like you," she admits. "And if you weren't leaving for grad school, I'd ask to date you, but you are leaving, and that's just how it is. And I'm happy for you," she throws in, "because you're going to do amazing things, but I still wish there was a way for this—us—to happen."

"Me too," Stacie says quietly.

They fall into silence and she leans her head on Aubrey's shoulder. Aubrey's arm comes to encircle her waist and she sighs against her skin, pressing a single kiss onto her shoulder. They stay like that until their phones buzz with a text from Chloe giving them a half-hour warning for dinner, and Aubrey disappears wordlessly into the bathroom with nothing but a squeeze to Stacie's knee and a small smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Take Me All The Way Down  
 **Chapter:** 2/3  
 **Author:** jdc15  
 **Rating:** M/NC-17  
 **Word Count:** About 9k  
 **Summary:** Beca and Chloe force the rest of the Bellas, plus Aubrey, to join them on a weeklong road trip after the Worlds competition.

 _Aubrey_

She can't decide whether or not she regrets what they've done.

On one hand, she isn't dumb enough to tell herself they can claim to be just friends after this, nor have any hope of returning to a platonic relationship. On the other hand, she's already admitted both to herself and to Stacie that she doesn't want to be just friends.

Either way, she keeps her thoughts to herself as they step into the elevator. They stand on opposite sides and Aubrey crosses her arms; Stacie hasn't even looked at her and nervousness is starting to build in her stomach, so she steps out into the lobby as soon as the doors open and turns into the dining area.

"So," Chloe starts as soon as they've sat down. "I was planning to have us leave tonight, but since today was kind of a dud, I thought we could head out tomorrow instead? Maybe around eleven?" She looks around the table hopefully, and Aubrey suddenly feels sorry for her. Sure, she kind of forced everyone into this trip, but she's just doing her best to let them have a few more days together before everyone leaves. She knows Chloe's struggled with leaving more than anyone, so she grasps her forearm comfortingly and gives her a smile. Despite barely seeing each other for the past three years, she still considers Chloe her best friend and that won't ever change.

"That sounds good, Chlo," she says, and Chloe sends her a grateful smile.

The rest of the girls start to groan but Aubrey gives them her best glare and they fall silent immediately. She thinks she catches Stacie smirking a little out of the corner of her eye but she refuses to look at her and engages Chloe in conversation instead.

/

Chloe hangs back a little after dinner, catching Aubrey right before she leaves. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure," Aubrey agrees. Stacie and Beca linger for a moment, shooting them questioning glances, but they wave them off and Aubrey turns to look expectantly at Chloe. "What's up?"

"What's going on with you and Stacie?' Chloe asks bluntly. Aubrey's taken aback; she'd expected Chloe to ask her for advice about Beca or something.

"I—I don't—"

"Don't play dumb," Chloe warns, hand on her hip. "Have you slept with her?"

Aubrey flushes and looks away. "Why are you asking me this?"

"Because I don't want you to get hurt, Bree," Chloe says gently. "She's leaving in just a few days, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Aubrey says sharply, hating herself for starting to tear up. She tries to tell herself she doesn't _care_ , and to stop being so emotional, but it doesn't seem to work.

"What are you planning to do?" Chloe asks. "Are you going to try long distance?"

"No," Aubrey shakes her head.

"What, then? Are you going to just—"

"You're doing the same thing with Beca," Aubrey says, trying to turn the conversation away from herself.

"I'm going to LA with her," Chloe says, shaking her head a little. "It isn't the same, unless you're planning to go with Stacie to Maryland?"

"I can't," Aubrey says, because really, she can't.

"Okay," Chloe agrees. "Then what's your plan?"

"I don't know!" Aubrey throws her hands up a little.

"Okay, jeez."

"Sorry," Aubrey sighs. "It's just…I like her. And I don't want her to get hurt, either, but we've already done… _non-friend_ things so we can't really go back now, and I kind of wish we hadn't done anything."

"Okay, so end it," Chloe says simply, like that's the easiest thing in the world. "Just tell her you think it's a bad idea and that'll be the end of it. Swap rooms with someone if you have to."

Aubrey doesn't know quite what to think. The rational side of her brain tells to her to agree with Chloe, to talk to the girls and find a new rooming partner, to tell Stacie that nothing else can happen, and avoid her for the rest of the trip. But the other side of her brain, the one filled with memories of Stacie's hands on her body and how cute she looks when she sleeps, rises up and fills her with confusion. She's already so sick of being confused, so she just shakes her head hopelessly and Chloe sighs and pulls her in for a hug.

/

She stays in the lobby with Chloe for close to an hour, drinking coffee even though she know it'll keep her up all night and talking about mundane things. It's nice to have some time alone with Chloe and she loves the way the girl blushes and looks away whenever Aubrey pushes for details about Beca, even if it is kind of gross.

By the time they leave the table and make their way upstairs it's close to seven o'clock. She bids Chloe goodnight when they part at the door to her room, nerves returning to settle deep in her stomach as she walks in. Stacie is lying in bed with a book, glasses slipping down her nose a little as she reads. She glances up when Aubrey enters, pushing them back into place and offering a smile. "How's Chloe?"

"Good," Aubrey says stiffly. "It was nice to catch up with her."

Stacie nods and worries her lip a little between her teeth. Aubrey thinks it's cute but then she feels like kicking herself, because how is she supposed to end whatever is going on with them when the girl giving her _that_ look over the rims of her glasses makes her want to pin her to the wall?

She clears her throat and plays with the hem of her shirt, coming further into the room until she can sink down onto her own bed. "What are you reading?" she asks, stalling.

"Animals in Translation." Stacie waves the book a little before closing it and placing it on the table between their beds. "It's really interesting, have you read it?"

"Yeah," Aubrey says. "I really liked it."

Silence falls and Aubrey looks away, studying the cover of the book just for something to do. There's a grey dog on the front.

"Wanna watch a movie or something?" Stacie finally asks.

Aubrey shuts her eyes for a second. She knows she should say no and tell Stacie what she's thinking but instead she finds herself nodding, and Stacie jumps up to fetch the remote and the booklet that has all of the channels listed. When she returns she sits on Aubrey's bed instead of her own.

"What do you feel like watching?" she asks, turning on the TV and leafing through the booklet. "I think there's a list in here of some pre-loaded movies or something."

Aubrey's too busy trying to keep herself from leaning in to kiss her to bother picking a movie, so she just says, "I don't care, whatever you want" and winces when her voice comes out a little raspy. Stacie doesn't seem to notice.

"Maybe a comedy?" she suggests.

"Sure." Aubrey picks up her phone and starts scrolling through it, trying to look like she's got something to do, while Stacie clicks her way to the proper channel and selects the movie. She hops up after a moment and Aubrey jumps a little when the lights flick off, leaving the room dim except for the slight illumination from the tiny lamp beside the bed.

"Sorry," Stacie says when she sees Aubrey's face. "Do you want them on?"

She moves back toward the switch but Aubrey shakes her head. "No, it's okay. You can leave them."

"Okay." Stacie appears to dither for a moment before reclaiming her seat beside Aubrey, pushing her glasses up again where they've slipped down her nose. "Can I sit here?"

"You already are," Aubrey says, and she doesn't mean for it to come out rude, but it kind of does and Stacie goes to stand up.

"I'll move."

"No, Stace, you can stay here," Aubrey says, and immediately regrets it because this isn't helping her self-control and she really needs to tell the girl that they can't keep doing this, but her mouth seems to be disconnected from her brain.

Aubrey finally scoots back against the headboard as the movie starts, pulling a pillow into her lap and adjusting the blanket over her legs. Stacie looks uncertain, like she isn't sure how close to Aubrey she's allowed to sit. She finally moves to mirror her position, leaving space between them.

"You can get under the covers," Aubrey says quietly. "I mean, if you want."

Stacie nods without looking at her and slips her legs under the blanket, curling them away from Aubrey. "Thanks."

Aubrey fixes her gaze on the screen, trying to follow the opening scene. She recognizes Will Ferrell and some racecars or something, and throws all of her concentration into focusing only on the movie.

/

Half an hour in, she almost has a heart attack when she feels warm skin graze her thigh as Stacie rearranges the blanket.

"Sorry," Stacie says, withdrawing her hand at once. "I didn't mean to."

"It's fine," Aubrey says tightly, and turns her gaze back to the TV until she feels it again, and this time there's no way it was an accident. Stacie's hand traces light circles just above her knee, short nails scratching just slightly against her.

"Stace…"

"Do you want me to stop?" Stacie asks, voice low and rough, and Aubrey swallows hard because no, she wants nothing more than for her to continue, and she shakes her head. The hand on her leg transitions from light circles to purposeful squeezes and her eyes slam shut. When they open again, Stacie's face is next to hers. There's a moment when they just look at each other, and then, god damn it, it's happening again.

Stacie's lips slide over her own, her hands cupping Aubrey's face. Her body is twisted at an odd angle that looks uncomfortable, so Aubrey shoves her a little until she's shifting, and then suddenly she's straddling Aubrey's legs and then they're touching everywhere.

Aubrey can feel warmth where Stacie's pressed against her, and she lets the heat make its way into their kisses, opening her mouth a little and tilting her head. Her hands roam over Stacie's hips, up to her waist, and then finally she allows herself to cup her breasts through her sleep shirt. It's obvious that Stacie doesn't have a bra on, and Aubrey can feel her nipples hardening through the thin cotton of the t-shirt when she runs her hands over the soft swell. Stacie makes a sort of whimpering noise into her mouth, and Aubrey suddenly can't hold back.

She catches Stacie's lips in a needy kiss, their breaths coming quick and hot and mingling between their mouths. She pushes her body up into Stacie's, suddenly hating the clothes that separate them. Impatiently, she reaches for the hem of her shirt, but Stacie catches her hands and stills them.

"I want to undress you," she mumbles against Aubrey's lips, and Aubrey has no problem with that; quite the opposite, actually. The words draw a quiet moan from her and she kisses Stacie more deeply as the girl's hands fist in her shirt and draw it up and over her head. Her bra follows quickly, Stacie deftly unsnapping it and tossing it aside to take Aubrey's boobs in her hands.

Aubrey has to suppress a groan when Stacie's fingers close over her nipples and tug a little, sending sparks of arousal straight between her legs. "Stace," she pants. "Take your shirt off."

Stacie complies instantly and then their chests press together as they kiss. Aubrey sighs; this might be her new favorite feeling. Her hands migrate upwards to take Stacie's breasts into her hands, exploring their fullness and how they nearly spill out of her palms when she cups them. She feels Stacie smirk into her mouth, just a little, before she gives a firm squeeze and Stacie bites down on her lip. Aubrey urges the girl to move closer and then she breaks their kiss to close her lips around a nipple. She moves her tongue in circles, feeling the skin tighten, and then she bites down a little and Stacie lets out a soft cry.

"Bree—" she groans. "Oh, god."

Aubrey glances up at her and studies her face a little, noticing how flushes she is. Her glasses are falling down again so Aubrey removes them carefully, leaning down to place them on the table before resuming their kiss.

Stacie's squirming a little in her lap, and then her fingers fall to Aubrey's jeans and she unbuttons them, urging her to lift her hips a little so they can slide down her legs. She removes them slowly, dropping them off the side of the bed and then returning to run her hands from Aubrey's knees all the way to her chest where she cups her breasts. Her mouth descends a moment later and she places kisses all over her chest and down to her stomach. Her lips are warm and wet and Aubrey can feel how she's opening them against her skin, how her tongue pokes out to flick over her every few seconds. It feels like a promise of something else, and Aubrey's breathing picks up involuntarily as Stacie wraps her arms around her hips, pulling her down so she's lying flat on her back instead of sitting up.

Her fingers fumble a little with the waistband of her underwear, but then she's dragging it down her legs and discarding it, and settling on her stomach between Aubrey's legs.

"Is this okay?" she asks, pressing a single kiss to Aubrey's inner thigh. Aubrey nods, trying to calm her anxiety, and then Stacie's mouth is on her, and she arches up off the bed, unable to hold back. Stacie's tongue runs over her, stopping to circle around her clit before she sucks it into her mouth. Aubrey's body jerks and she has to will herself to stay still. Her breath leaves her in gasps and when Stacie sucks harder it's almost too much.

She tangles a hand in Stacie's hair and the other finds her own breast, kneading the flesh in time with Stacie's laps between her legs. Stacie nudges her thighs a bit more apart and her mouth skirts over her before two fingers come up to slip inside, and Aubrey almost bites her lip in half trying to stay quiet. She's never had a girl do this to her before, and it's more different than she'd think from when guys have done it. There's no stubble burn on her legs, and no pressure to finish so they can move on.

Even though she gets the impression that Stacie would spend all day down there if she wanted her to, she can already feel it building, and is torn between the desire to come and the wish that it would last longer, but the decision isn't up to her; Stacie makes it for her, pressing her fingers into her and doubling her efforts with her tongue, and Aubrey's body seizes as her orgasm takes over.

She finally relaxes down into the bed, her hands leaving Stacie's hair and coming up to wipe her forehead. Stacie crawls up to collapse next to her and their lips meet again in a slow kiss, and Aubrey can taste herself on Stacie's mouth. It's intriguing and it makes her want to taste more, but not of herself.

Stacie's being polite beside her but Aubrey can tell she's burning with the need to be touched from the way her legs press together and her kisses bite, so she reaches down to untie the string that holds Stacie's sweats. Stacie kicks them off and then removes her underwear herself before moving urgently against Aubrey, and the blonde can feel how wet she is where she's pressed into her leg. With a hand on her back, she guides Stacie to rock into her, reveling in the fact that _she_ , Aubrey Posen, is the one eliciting those sounds from her mouth.

After a few moments, though, Stacie takes Aubrey's hand in hers and slides it down until her fingers slip through wetness, instinctually moving in tight circles. Stacie catches Aubrey's lips but only for a moment before Aubrey breaks away to begin a path down the body underneath her. She's apprehensive, but not because she doesn't want to do it; the issue is that she's never done it _before_ and the thought of failing isn't something she ever wants to entertain.

"What are you doing?" Stacie asks. Her voice is laced with nerves and Aubrey looks up at her, finding green eyes filled with uncertainty.

"Going down on you," Aubrey husks with a nip to the skin of Stacie's breast. "Are you okay with that?"

"If you are, yeah," Stacie murmurs, stroking a hand gently over Aubrey's hair, smoothing it a little. She looks surprisingly nervous and Aubrey rises up to kiss her reassuringly.

"Just tell me if you want me to stop," Aubrey whispers. She isn't sure why Stacie's so unsure, but she finds it cute. She only hopes that she won't disappoint.

She resumes her journey down Stacie's body, spending long minutes on her chest until Stacie's gasping her name before licking her way to her stomach, her hips, and finally taking her place between her thighs. Stacie watches her go, propped up on her elbows, and Aubrey takes a moment to appreciate how gorgeous she looks with her long hair spilling over her shoulders and chest, abs tensing visibly.

Finally she presses her lips to her, just once before pulling away, and sees Stacie's head fall back. She does it again and a moan reaches her ears, though she isn't sure who produced it. Maybe they both did. She opens her mouth and drags her tongue over her, tasting her properly, and this time she knows she's the one making most of the noise. It's incredible, how Stacie feels under her, and she finds herself already wanting to do it again, once she's done doing it the first time.

She feels Stacie's fingers at the nape of her neck and shivers a little, swirling her tongue gently over her clit, tracing patterns into her. After a few minutes her tongue gets tired so she switches to just her lips for a while, sucking the skin into her mouth like Stacie had done to her. The girl lets out a cry and her other hand fumbles around until she finds Aubrey's, and then their fingers are laced together and Stacie squeezes them hard.

Aubrey doesn't have a chance to worry about what hand-holding during sex means for their relationship, because Stacie's body suddenly tenses and she moans softly, knuckles white where she's grasping Aubrey's hand. Aubrey feels a moment of triumph, relieved at her success, and finds it difficult to stop her mouth from where it seems glued to the girl under her.

Finally Stacie falls back on the bed and yanks Aubrey away and up to meet her, molding their lips together. She rolls off of Stacie without breaking the kiss and presses close, one hand encircling her waist and the other still entwined with Stacie's. She decides not to allow herself to think about anything but the body next to hers, which doesn't prove difficult when she's unexpectedly pushed onto her back again and full lips begin to travel their way down her body.

/

She's woken by her phone alarm and when she reaches to turn it off, she realizes that she's trapped. Stacie's arm is thrown over her waist and her leg is anchoring her hips to the bed.

"Stace," she whispers, nudging her. The girl mumbles something and buries her face in Aubrey's shoulder, snuggling closer. Aubrey wishes she could just relax but the beeping alarm is starting to drive her crazy and it won't shut off by itself, so she heaves Stacie's leg away and grabs the phone, swiping across the screen to silence the alarm. She falls back onto the bed with a sigh and Stacie immediately pulls her close, rubbing their noses together a little as she wakes.

Aubrey presses a kiss to her lips before pulling back a little. "Stace, we have to get up."

Stacie groans and rolls onto her back, throwing an arm over her face. "Already?"

"It's eight-fifteen," Aubrey says.

"What time do we have to be at breakfast?"

"Nine."

"I need a shower," Stacie sighs, dropping her arm to the bed and sitting up. The sheet falls away and Aubrey's eyes snap to her chest. Stacie notices just as she blushes and looks away. "Hey, Bree?"

"Yes?" Aubrey answers, eyes glued to the mattress.

"You're allowed to touch." The words are husky as they fall from Stacie's mouth, and Aubrey feels her face flush even hotter. Stacie takes Aubrey's hand and places it over her own breast, urging her to massage it and she leans in to kiss Aubrey after a moment, pressing into her hand where it's moving on her chest. Aubrey pinches the nipple a little, remembering how it worked last night, and Stacie gasps into her mouth. Aubrey's half a second from throwing her onto the bed when Stacie pushes her away.

"I really need a shower," she says again, but this time there's an unmistakable smirk on her lips. "Wanna join me?"

/

Surprisingly, they manage to be only five minutes late to breakfast even after they've canoodled in the shower as well as repacked their bags, but they still only have time to grab coffee and a bagel before Chloe chases them out onto the parking lot.

It turns out that Jessica forgot her bags in the room, so she and Ashley shuffle back into the hotel under Chloe's glare, and Aubrey starts to wonder if they'll ever be on time for anything. She realizes suddenly that her car is out of gas, and Chloe gives her a look.

"Why didn't you get some last night?"

"Oh, she totally did," Stacie whispers, quietly enough for only Aubrey to hear.

"I forgot, I guess," Aubrey says apologetically, trying desperately to keep her voice from wavering when Stacie runs a hand up her thigh under the jacket that's spread over her lap.

"Just go, then," Chloe says exasperatedly. "We'll take Jessica and Ashley with us for today. No one else needs gas so by the time you've gotten some we'll probably have caught up anyway. I'll have Beca text you the address."

Aubrey nods and shuts the door, starting the car and backing out of the lot, trying to ignore Stacie's hand where it's rubbing slow circles along her leg. She swats it away when it starts to wriggle under the waistband of her jeans, giving Stacie a glare. "I'm driving."

"So?"

" _So_ , unless you want to die when I drive off a cliff because you've got your hand in my pants, I suggest you keep your hands to yourself."

"I have that effect on you?" Stacie asks teasingly, and it shouldn't mean anything to Aubrey but somehow it does. She blushes and reaches for the radio dial, hoping to dispel the heat in her face, but when Stacie starts dancing provocatively to the music (or as provocatively as possible when strapped into the seat of a car), she starts looking a lot harder for the nearest gas station.

/

After she fills the tank, they wait around for another fifteen minutes before they decide to just head out because the others are nowhere to be seen and Chloe isn't picking up her phone.

"Poor Emily will be glad to have Jess and Ashley there, anyway," Stacie says with a wave as they get back into the car. "I personally would rather die than be alone in a vehicle with Bhloe for almost five hours."

"Bhloe?"

"You know…Beca and Chloe? Fat Amy calls them Bhloe now."

Aubrey shakes her head. That doesn't even deserve a response. "Wait, how do you know how long the drive is?"

"Beca let it slip that we're going to Nashville, so I google-mapped it," Stacie says matter-of-factly. "I brought snacks, by the way."

She produces a fairly massive bag from the backseat and unzips it, and what looks like an entire supermarket aisle worth of candy spills out.

"Oh my god," Aubrey says with a roll of her eyes. "You're going to get diabetes."

"You only live once," Stacie says with a wink, ripping open a box of Junior Mints. "Don't act like you're not secretly thrilled."

She pops a mint into her mouth. It's partially melted and leaves a smudge of chocolate on Stacie's bottom lip, and Aubrey finds herself wanting to kiss it off of her. She forces her eyes back to the road, kind of amazed she hasn't caused a major accident yet, with the way she's staring at the girl next to her.

Stacie fishes another mint out of the box. "Want one?"

"I'm good, thanks."

"Oh, come on, I know they're your favorite."

"How do you know that?"

"I don't know, I think you mentioned it ages ago." She says this like it's totally normal for friends to remember unimportant details about each other's favorite candies. Aubrey just blinks at her for a second.

"So?" Stacie offers, holding the box out and giving it a shake. "They're amazing," she tempts.

"Fine," Aubrey sighs. "If you insist." She holds out her hand and Stacie shakes the box until a few mints fall into her palm. "Thanks."

"Sure." Stacie falls silent then, humming along to the Selena Gomez song on the radio, and Aubrey lets out a breath, telling herself she's relieved to be left alone for a bit.

However, when she pulls up to the next red light, she jumps and almost hits the horn when warm lips attach themselves to her jaw.

"Stacie, what the fuck! Driving, remember?"

"Chill out, we're at a red light," Stacie whispers, lips moving to her neck, biting her way down to her shoulder. Aubrey squirms, wanting to push her away because she know the people in the car next to them are _definitely_ staring, but she finds herself tilting her head to one side instead, giving Stacie easier access.

Stacie's hand returns to Aubrey's leg and this time Aubrey doesn't stop her, but she keeps a close eye on the traffic light. Stacie pops the button of her jeans and her fingers slip into her underwear, sliding through the wetness there. Aubrey's eyes flutter shut but suddenly there's a loud honking behind her and she stamps on the gas, mortified, hoping no one noticed that the reason she missed the light change was that Stacie Conrad's mouth was attached to her neck.

Stacie's fingers still, waiting while she turns onto the on-ramp for the highway, and then resume their slow tease against her. Aubrey's hands tighten on the steering wheel and she closes her legs a little.

"Do you want me to stop?" Stacie murmurs into her ear, breath tickling her skin. Aubrey remembers her saying that exact thing when they were in bed the night before, and hesitates for a second before she shakes her head, a little ashamed at her lack of self-control. She presses down on the accelerator, hoping that she will be able to merge successfully.

"Don't forget to check your blind spot," Stacie whispers helpfully, and Aubrey throws a glance over her shoulder before she jerks the car into the lane. It's not graceful in the slightest but she really couldn't care less, to be honest, not when Stacie picks up the pace and guides her legs apart again.

"Lean back," she instructs, and Aubrey lets herself fall back in her seat. She always sits forward when she drives, in order to give the road her full concentration, but that goes out the window when Stacie uses the change in position to slip a finger inside her. She adds another after a moment, thumb circling her clit as she thrusts slowly into her. "Do you like that?"

"You should be able to figure that one out yourself," Aubrey struggles out.

Stacie's breathing picks up audibly. "You're really wet," she observes. "I love that I can do that to you."

"Oh yeah?" Aubrey knows she's starting to drive too fast, but she doesn't have the presence of mind to do anything about it. They're really lucky the road is as empty as it is.

"Yeah," Stacie breathes. "It's fucking hot." She removes her fingers and brings them to her lips, and Aubrey gapes at her when she sucks them into her mouth before putting them back between her legs.

"You taste amazing," Stacie says, her voice several octaves lower than usual. "I can't wait until we get to the hotel."

"Four more hours," Aubrey says uselessly, choking a bit on her words when Stacie's fingers change their angle.

"Four hours," Stacie repeats, the inflection of her words implying that those hours will pass in a very interesting way.

/

It only ends up taking three and a half hours to reach the hotel, because Aubrey drives like a maniac and Stacie's hands won't stop wandering.

By the time they pull up at the hotel Aubrey's sweatier than she'd like to admit, and she bats Stacie away when she tries to wrap her arms around her. Stacie steps back respectfully but not without tossing her a wink as she pulls bags out of the trunk.

Aubrey jumps immediately into the shower once she's dropped her bag on the floor. She's half-expecting Stacie to join her, but she never does; instead, she just drops a kiss to Aubrey's cheek once she emerges, and steps into the bathroom herself.

Aubrey claps a hand over her cheek where Stacie's lips touched her, feeling like a schoolgirl and knowing she's blushing. It wasn't just a friendly peck; Stacie's lips lingered for an extra second and her nose brushed against Aubrey's temple in what seemed like a purposeful manner.

There's a moment where Aubrey's imagination takes over and she sees Stacie kiss her cheek again as she walks by, except this time they're in a house and there's something glittering on the finger of her left hand, and—

/

 _Stacie_

When she leaves the bathroom, wrapped in her towel, Aubrey's sitting on the bed. She's on her phone, facing away from the door, and Stacie takes a moment to just appreciate her: her blonde hair, darkened from the shower, the delicate angle of her jaw, how her fingers fly over the screen of her phone as she types out a text. She looks completely distracted so Stacie pads quietly across the carpet and lowers herself to the bed behind her, pressing a kiss to the nape of her neck. Aubrey jumps a little but then relaxes, accepting Stacie's hand into her own when it curls around her waist.

"Hi," Stacie whispers against her neck, leaving a line of kisses from her shoulder to just below her ear. She's wearing a loose cotton shirt and Stacie pushes it aside easily to run her fingers over the exposed skin.

"Hey," Aubrey says back, turning off the screen of her phone and pushing it aside. "Chloe says they're about twenty minutes away."

"Cool," Stacie mumbles, distracted by the way her breath makes Aubrey shiver when it tickles across her jaw. She urges Aubrey to lie on her back and moves to straddle her, nudging their noses together. Aubrey reaches up a little but Stacie only lets their lips brush for half a second before she draws away, and then leans back down to kiss the patch of skin just behind Aubrey's jaw. Aubrey's body jerks up a little and her hands hold Stacie in place where they splay across her back.

Stacie feels a tug at the towel and she lets it be pulled away, but she suddenly feels cold, and Aubrey must notice because she reaches down and draws the blanket over them. In thanks, Stacie sucks hard on her neck, feeling Aubrey's pulse quicken under her lips.

She allows her hand to make its way down the body beneath her, trailing over a tense stomach and then between smooth thighs. She slicks her fingers over her, slowly sketching random pictures into her skin. Aubrey's legs tremble a little and her hands grasp Stacie's waist, her breathing becoming more erratic. She lets her explore for a few short minutes before squeezing her hips, and Stacie's fingers drag to a halt, waiting.

"Stacie," Aubrey says quietly, running a hand gently over her ribcage, "can you kiss me?"

Stacie draw back slowly to look at her, watching the way her cheeks color slightly. Her hair is a little mussed where it's spread over the pillow, so Stacie tidies it absentmindedly, studying the way the dark blonde contrasts with the stark white of the pillow.

"Yes," she murmurs finally, and leans in to catch the kiss begging to be taken from Aubrey's lips.

It isn't like they haven't ever kissed each other, so Stacie isn't sure why this one feels so much different. She finds herself searching for every crease of Aubrey's lips, every stroke of her tongue yielding a new taste and a new rush of wetness between her legs.

Usually this is the point at which they'd speed up, but this time, Stacie doesn't feel the rush. Instead, she finds herself wanting to take her time, to watch the effect of every movement her hand makes and how Aubrey's face changes in time with them.

She kisses her once, hard, before slowing her mouth and running her tongue over Aubrey's bottom lip. She slips her fingers inside of her, then, and feels Aubrey's eyelashes flutter against her cheek. She holds them there, unmoving, until Aubrey's kisses turn more persistent and then she changes to deep strokes into her, anchoring her own thigh behind her hand. Her thumb find Aubrey's clit and stays there, circling first one way and then the other. Aubrey moans into her mouth, but still Stacie doesn't feel the need to lose control; she continues to fuck her slowly and it's excruciating but in a good way for once.

She knows Aubrey's close, just from the way her kisses change, before she even feels the telltale tightening around her hand. Their lips slide together a bit more quickly, and Aubrey's tongue flicks into her mouth with more purpose but less coordination. Stacie finds it cute that Aubrey's kissing skills deteriorate when she's about to come, and she smiles a little against her, rocking her hand into her and trying to hit every spot that she's found so far that will drive her higher.

Whatever she does seems to work because Aubrey's fingers suddenly fist into her hair and her body rolls underneath her. Her mouth falls open just a little and Stacie presses kisses onto her lips patiently until Aubrey recovers and kisses back again.

The hands in Stacie's hair release and come to cup her jaw, Aubrey's kisses turning lazy and close-mouthed. Stacie lowers herself down a bit until their bodies press together, suddenly wishing she'd taken Aubrey's clothes off before touching her because the layers that separate them, while soft, are nothing in comparison to Aubrey's skin.

She's reaching for the hem of her shirt when Aubrey's phone buzzes with a text from Chloe saying they've checked in to their rooms and are ready to hit the town.

/

Stacie's kind of pissed at Chloe for the first time since the trip began, since now she's unsatisfied, still feeling Aubrey's lips on her own, and facing several hours of walking around before she can do anything about it. To make matters worse, Chloe yanks Aubrey away, leaving the rest of the group to decide the plan for the day.

"Okay, who wants to see what?" Beca asks, looking somewhat miffed that Chloe had left so quickly, and making an unimpressive effort to take over as the group leader.

"What is there to see?" Flo asks.

"Well, it's Nashville, so…like, a lot," Beca says, rather unhelpfully.

Cynthia Rose rolls her eyes. "Come on, we'll visit the Ryman. Maybe there's a show we can get tickets to for tomorrow."

She sets off without waiting for a response and everyone tags along without arguing, because that's actually a good idea, though it might interfere with Chloe's plans. No one seems particularly bothered about that, though, and Stacie finds herself thinking that this really is the least-organized road trip she has ever taken part in. It was a good idea to start, but it's only broken apart into a lot of wandering around, and a lot of confusing feelings that Stacie wishes had never been brought to the table.

/

She catches up with Beca as they reach the doors of the auditorium. The shorter girl is looking over the lineup for the week, and she turns to Stacie with a grin. Not many people know that Beca is secretly a country music fan, but they will soon enough if she keeps squealing about some band called Love and Theft that's playing the next night.

It turns out that the only tickets left cost almost four hundred dollars apiece so they drag Beca away, but then they hear about some mini music festival for a couple of up-and-coming artists and they all jump at the chance to do something fun. Beca is elected as the one to tell Chloe that they're disrupting her plans, but she doesn't argue, too busy googling the names of the bands that will be playing.

"Hey, nerd." Stacie gives her a nudge. "We're leaving now."

"What? Oh, right," Beca says, and then trips over the curb. She blushes and tucks her phone away.

"Graceful as always."

"Oh, shut up," Beca says.

"Do you think Chloe will care that we want to go?" Stacie asks.

"Maybe." Beca shrugs. "But she likes country music."

"Yeah, and I'm sure you can convince her either way," Stacie says with a wink, and Beca, predictably, flushes scarlet.

/

It turns out that Chloe already got tickets to Love and Theft several days ago, and Beca almost hyperventilates when she reads the text with the apparently life-changing news. This leads to Beca wanting to disappear instantly with Chloe into the nearest private room, but she and Aubrey are apparently still having "girl time," even though there's no one on the trip who _isn't_ a girl.

It's just a little past five so they decide to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame before dinner, but when they find out it costs twenty-five bucks just to get in, they veto the idea and opt instead for a sports bar.

It turns out that Beca is a big fan of hockey, so when she sees that there's a game on, she makes a beeline for the bar and takes a seat. The others fill in around her, Stacie elbowing her with a smirk. "You are such a nerd, Mitchell."

"Go away," Beca says with a poorly-aimed punch. "The Thrashers are playing, you should care."

"Why? And what are the Thrashers?"

"Atlanta's hockey team!" Beca responds, scandalized. "And you should care because you live there!"

"I like the Tar Heels," Stacie says with a shrug.

"Do they even play hockey?"

"No idea," Stacie says with a laugh. "I don't watch anything except football usually."

"Lame," Beca says, and taps her knuckles on the table to summon the bartender. He appears and draws them both a beer. He doesn't card them and Stacie raises an eyebrow but doesn't complain.

/

Three beers and two hours later, Stacie's starting to like hockey. She's getting tipsy, and Beca is thoroughly hammered. She's taken to yelling colorful insults at the opposing team, and Stacie would stop her if it weren't so damn funny to see the entire bar stare at her.

She's so busy laughing that she almost misses the hand that taps her shoulder. She turns to see a handsome man, probably in his thirties, smiling at her. "Can I buy you another?" he asks, motioning to her nearly-empty beer glass. She blinks at him for a moment before Beca's elbow digs into her ribs and she snaps out of it. It feels weird to have a guy trying to buy her a drink; a week ago she'd accept, but now it would feel wrong, for some reason.

"I'm not single, sorry," she says, and then instantly wants to take it back. Not because she wants anything to do with him, but because she can't say things like "I'm not single" when she _is_ single.

He nods and leaves, and Stacie turns to Beca, who raises an eyebrow. "'Not single?'"

Stacie drops her head to her hands. "I don't know why I said that."

"Are you dating the Nazi now?"

"Don't call her that," Stacie says, and then adds, "No, we aren't dating."

"Then what are you?" Beca asks, trying to wave the bartender over again. Stacie slaps her hand down.

"You've had enough," she warns. "And I don't know. We aren't anything, really."

"Fuckbuddies?"

"Please never say that word again," Stacie shudders. Drunk-Beca really has zero filter. "We're just…friends with benefits, I guess? I mean, that's all I can think to call it."

Beca nods. "Sure."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You two should just get married," Beca says loudly. "You clearly want to."

"Beca, for fuck's sake, I don't want to marry her!"

"Then what do you want?" Beca complains. "Make up your mind already."

"Okay, what I want is to get you out of here before they throw us out. Come on," Stacie says, dragging Beca out of the seat.

"But the game's not over!" Beca whines, trying to wriggle away.

"Beca, it ended half an hour ago," Stacie says exasperatedly, making a mental not to never let Beca near alcohol ever again.

"Oh," Beca says, looking confused. "Okay."

She lets Stacie lead her away and into the parking lot, rounding up the others as they go. No one's anything more than tipsy so Stacie doesn't worry about anyone's driving being impaired. She stuffs Beca into the passenger side of Chloe's car, ignoring her pleas to drive, and slides into the driver's seat herself.

"It's a stick shift," Beca says smugly. "Good luck."

Stacie stares her straight in the eye as she throws it into first and backs out of the lot. "Thanks, I'll clearly need it," she says dryly. Beca turns away with a huff and promptly falls asleep, and Stacie is left to worry over the exchange in the bar for the entirety of the drive back to the hotel.

/

Stacie's stood in front of the TV, rifling through the drawers underneath it for the channel list. It defaulted to Fox News and there's only so much of Donald Trump's inane blathering she can take in one day. She finally locates the list but before she can so much as glance at it, the door to the room opens with a soft click.

"Hey," Stacie says with a smile, turning to face Aubrey. The blonde is wearing a leather jacket and some of the tightest jeans Stacie's ever seen, and it suddenly becomes really hard to keep her eyes on her _friend's_ face. "How was your day?"

Instead of answering, Aubrey comes further into the room, taking her time in placing her purse on the table and unwrapping her scarf from around her neck. Stacie raises an eyebrow, not sure why she's being ignored. "Bree, what's going—?"

"Sit down," Aubrey says.

Stacie gapes at her a little. "What?"

"I said, sit _down_."

Aubrey finally makes eye contact, and it takes no longer than half a second for Stacie to understand what's going on. It only takes another half second for her to be one hundred percent okay with it.

She backs up until her legs hit the edge of the bed and she sinks down onto the mattress, eyes locked onto Aubrey's form. The girl stalks toward her, shedding her coat to reveal a rather low-cut black shirt, black lace peeking out over the edge of the neckline. Stacie feels her mouth fall open a little but she doesn't quite have the presence of mind to do anything about it.

"Take your shirt off," Aubrey says quietly, and Stacie would be embarrassed by how quickly the garment hits the floor if she weren't already incredibly turned on. Aubrey's eyes roam over her body, and Stacie tries to calm her breathing a little. This is new for her, this kind of situation, and she really hopes she doesn't do anything too stupid. She doesn't like giving full control to other people in the bedroom, but she trusts Aubrey not to ask for too much or do anything she wouldn't want.

Aubrey takes another step forward, bringing herself close enough to reach an arm out and run a single finger over Stacie's collarbone and down to trace the curve of her breast. Stacie lets her eyes flutter closed and Aubrey retracts her hand at once.

"What's—"

"Be quiet."

Aubrey returns her hand to Stacie's chest and cups one of her boobs, squeezing just hard enough to make Stacie press forward and let out a whimper.

"I thought I said to be quiet," Aubrey growls, and then she's shoving Stacie so she falls to lie flat on the bed. Stacie has to bite down so hard on her lip to keep from making noise that she nearly draws blood, and she squeezes her eyes shut so hard she sees stars of white light behind her eyelids. They are nothing compared to the ones that appear when Aubrey pops open the front clasp of her bra to wrap her lips around a nipple, though.

She trails her hands up Aubrey's back to rest on her shoulders, but they're suddenly slammed to the mattress. Her eyes fly open to find Aubrey's face half an inch from her own, brown eyes narrowed.

"No touching," Aubrey purrs before she connects their lips, and Stacie almost wants to pinch herself. It isn't every day a beautiful woman pins her down to a bed and orders her around, and she isn't quite convinced it's not a dream.

Their lips slide together almost lazily, until Aubrey attaches her mouth to Stacie's neck and she feels teeth scrape against her throat. She inhales sharply and Aubrey chuckles a little against her lips before cupping one of her breasts, kneading it and rubbing her thumb over the hardened nipple. She pinches it, not too hard, but enough to make Stacie's body jerk up and off the bed for a moment. Aubrey's smile fades and her cheeks are flushed when she pulls back from the kiss to place her mouth over Stacie's nipple again.

Her tongue moves in small circles, teeth occasionally scraping against her. She's got one hand holding both of Stacie's arms above her head and the other massaging her boob while her mouth tracks wet kisses all across her chest and then over her stomach. Stacie feels her abs tensing involuntarily and she forces her eyes open to watch Aubrey move down her body.

When Aubrey finally settles between her legs, one hand on her thigh to hold her legs a bit apart, Stacie nearly comes just from anticipation. Aubrey presses circles over her jeans and Stacie's arms jerk, but Aubrey glares at her and hisses, " _do not move._ "

She finally pops the button of her jeans and peels them away; the fact that she's only using one hand makes the process excruciatingly slow and it takes all of Stacie's willpower to keep from yanking her arms out of Aubrey's grip and removing the pants herself.

Finally they're down to her ankles and she kicks them off hurriedly, stifling a groan when Aubrey's hand returns to her clit, the pressure from her hand more noticeable now that only her underwear is in the way.

When Aubrey sinks down lower, she is forced to release Stacie's arms, but she does so with a warning glance and a sharp nip to the skin over Stacie's leg. Stacie yelps a little and Aubrey's teeth sink into her inner thigh, soothing it with her tongue a moment later. Stacie knows she'll find the marks tomorrow, but she can't bring herself to care.

As close as she seemed to giving Stacie what she wants, Aubrey spends long minutes rubbing her nose over Stacie's thighs and licking mindless patterns, everywhere but where Stacie needs her. She eventually pulls her underwear away but even then, she starts a trail of kisses at Stacie's ankle and it takes her _ages_ to make her way back up, and by that time Stacie's a quivering mess. Aubrey seems to be enjoying it, though, because she shows no signs of sympathy and continues to tease mercilessly.

Stacie sticks it out for another few minutes before she can't take it anymore. Her arm is already bruising from where's she's biting into it to keep herself quiet, and she feels like if she gets much wetter she's going to die. She heaves a breath and drags a hand over her forehead, wiping away the light layer of sweat that's starting to collect there. She feels damp everywhere and she's getting too hot, even though she's naked and the room really isn't that warm. She glances down and sees Aubrey's hand scratching lightly at her hip, and she again has to try quite hard to suppress a moan.

"Baby, please," Stacie begs finally, too desperate to be touched to worry about what Aubrey will do about her breaking the silence rule. However, she's surprised when Aubrey's mouth descends on her immediately with nothing more than a glance upwards. She thinks she catches a glimpse of something different in Aubrey's eyes, but then she can't really concentrate on anything but her mouth and what it's doing between her legs.

/

A few short minutes later, Stacie lets out a gasp and tangles her hands in Aubrey's hair, hips rolling as much as they can with Aubrey's arm trapping them down to the bed. She comes long and hard and finally has to push Aubrey's head away before she passes out. She drags her up and kisses her breathlessly, tasting herself on Aubrey's lips like she did last time as she flips them. She pulls back after a moment and when she looks at Aubrey, the girl looks strangely vulnerable.

"You okay?" she whispers, and Aubrey nods, but it's not quite convincing. Before Stacie can press the issue, however, Aubrey pulls her back to kiss her hotly and Stacie takes that as an invitation to lick all the way down her body until Aubrey's legs wrap around her shoulders and her fingers clutch desperately at the sheets.

/

When Stacie wakes up, Aubrey is already sitting, leaning against the headboard and stroking gently through Stacie's hair. It send small shivers down her spine and she leans into the touch, seeing a smile spread over Aubrey's face out of the corner of her eye.

"Good morning," the blonde says softly. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah," Stacie says with a chuckle, pulling herself up next to Aubrey. "How about you?"

"Pretty good," Aubrey says, eyes trained on Stacie's lips. Stacie smirks and leans forward to suck just below Aubrey's jawline, hearing the sharp intake of breath from the girl that she always gives when Stacie's mouth is on her neck.

Stacie transitions to soft nips along Aubrey's jaw, smiling against her skin when her head falls back against the headboard with a soft thud. She swings her leg over Aubrey's until she's straddling her and sinks down into her lap, feeling Aubrey's hands slide up her thighs to rest on her ass. She licks her way to the other side of Aubrey's neck and at the same time, grinds down firmly into her. Aubrey lets out a strangled sort of sound and her hands squeeze hard into Stacie's backside.

"Do you like that, baby?" Stacie breathes into Aubrey's ear, loving the shiver that spreads over Aubrey's body in response.

"Stacie," she pants softly, and Stacie hums in response, face still buried against Aubrey's throat. She fucking loves it when Aubrey says her name when they're in bed together.

She grinds down harder and Aubrey moans her name again. Stacie feels her heartbeat speed up as Aubrey's fingers trail over her hips and press between her legs, rubbing slow circles before dipping just slightly inside and then back out again.

"You're such a fucking tease," she whines against Aubrey's lips, and she feels Aubrey's mouth curve into a smile. Her fingers stroke over her again before two slip into her, thumb coming up to press into her clit. Stacie lets her forehead fall against Aubrey's and catches her lips in a kiss, letting her body rise and fall slightly on Aubrey's lap.

Aubrey guides her hips a little bit faster with a hand on her lower back and flicks her tongue into her mouth. Stacie can't concentrate on anything except the fact that she's currently riding Aubrey's hand and nothing has ever filled her quite so perfectly as the pair of slim fingers inside her, so she kisses back automatically, and her moan is lost in Aubrey's mouth as she comes, body tensing for long moments. Finally her muscles release and then she's melting into Aubrey's arms and feeling them encircle her waist, soft lips pressing against the top of her head.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** Take Me All The Way Down  
 **Chapter:** 3/3  
 **Author:** jdc15  
 **Rating:** M/NC-17  
 **Word Count:** About 7.4k  
 **Summary:** Beca and Chloe force the rest of the Bellas, plus Aubrey, to join them on a weeklong road trip after the Worlds competition.  
 **Notes:** This turned out really sad and I kind of feel like a jerk, so the next thing I write will be more lighthearted. If anyone wants anything specific, PM me with prompts or leave them on my tumblr (which I've been really lazy about working on, but whatever).

 _Aubrey_

Sometimes, she can't really believe she's _allowed_ to touch her.

Stacie's body is perfect by anyone's standards, and Aubrey is well aware of the fact that she can have nearly anyone she wants, so she's a little bit baffled as to why Stacie wants _her_ , of all people. It makes her feel insecure, and she can't quite shake the feeling that she's more invested in whatever this is than Stacie is.

But she has called Aubrey "baby" twice now.

Or maybe Stacie assumes they both just want sex. After all, they are both aware of the fact that whatever they're doing will be over in less than a week. Maybe Stacie did only want to get her into bed, and maybe Aubrey should just be happy with that. After all, no one is denying the fact that the girl is fucking amazing in bed. Like, _really_ amazing.

So she keeps her thoughts to herself and continues to run a lazy hand over Stacie's head where it's resting on her shoulder.

The tone of their relationship shifted, the night before. There's something between them now; not quite weird, but almost. The way they've touched each other this morning has been more careful, like neither of them are sure what's okay and what isn't.

Stacie starts to stir a moment later, her arms squeezing around Aubrey's waist as she wakes. "Hey," she says groggily, rubbing her eyes and blinking.

"Morning," Aubrey says with a small smile.

"I didn't mean to fall back asleep," Stacie says with a laugh, sitting up, and Aubrey's cold for a second but then Stacie scoots in until they're touching again.

"It's okay," Aubrey shrugs.

"You tired me out," Stacie murmurs, pressing a lingering kiss to Aubrey's cheek. Aubrey tilts her head to catch her lips, but it only lasts a moment before Stacie breaks away. "Wanna take a shower? You know, we could take one together and save some water."

"What is it with you and showers?"

"What can I say?" Stacie asks. "I like you best when you're wet."

She rolls off the bed and into the bathroom, and Aubrey follows as soon as she's confident that her face has returned to a normal color.

/

When she steps out of the shower on unsteady legs, Stacie's kisses still making themselves known on the back of her neck, she starts to feel like maybe it's starting to be too much. It's hard to suppress her feelings when they're having non-stop sex; it's becoming hard to think about anything _but_ the non-sop sex, actually.

It isn't that she doesn't want to keep sleeping with Stacie, it's just that it feels like every time they fall into bed without knowing what it means, the possibility of being something aside from friends with benefits gets smaller. She keeps her thoughts to herself yet again, though, and instead asks Stacie if she wants to go get breakfast, just to break the feeling of awkwardness that seems to have fallen over them.

"Are we meeting the others?"

"No, Chloe never texted me and it's already—" She checks her watch. "Wow, it's nearly noon. Okay, brunch? I think we're on our own today until the concert."

"Sure," Stacie says with a smile, leaning in to kiss her softly. She lingers but Aubrey pulls away, and Stacie's brow furrows but she doesn't comment on it. "Where do you want to go?"

/

They decide to just wander down the street until they find a place. Aubrey wants to take Stacie's hand but she doesn't quite have the courage, so she shoves her hands into her pockets and kicks absently at the small rocks on the sidewalk. They find a café and walk inside, taking a seat in a booth near the back.

They sit in silence until the waitress comes with coffee and takes their orders. Aubrey hopes something will appear to jump-start a conversation, but the café is quiet so she shifts in her seat and traces the worn edge of the table, needing an excuse to avoid meeting Stacie's eyes.

"Are you okay?" Stacie asks finally, after the waitress comes with their food and silence is still blanketing the table.

"Yeah," Aubrey says, plastering a smile onto her face and reaching for her coffee mug. "How's the coffee?"

"Shitty," Stacie says, returning her own cup to the table and fixing Aubrey with a glare. "Don't lie to me. What's going on with you?"

"Nothing," Aubrey shrugs with a wince. The coffee tastes like old couch cushions and she puts it down with a sigh, annoyed that she can't hide behind it.

"Aubrey, please," Stacie says quietly. "You've acted weird all morning. Did I do something?"

"No, of course not," Aubrey says, but even as the words leave her mouth, she knows Stacie won't fall for it. She should have known Stacie would pick up on how she felt.

The girl slams her fork onto the table with a frustrated sigh. "Should I just leave?"

"What?" Aubrey's head snaps up, shocked. "No."

"Then talk to me! I mean, am I being unfair here?"

"You haven't done anything," Aubrey repeats with a wave of her hand. "Can we just drop it? Nothing is going on."

"Wow," Stacie says, a catch clear in her voice. "Okay, if that's how you want this to be, that's fine." She stands and fishes some money out of her pocket, tossing it onto the table. She looks at Aubrey and the look in her eyes makes something feel broken between them, though Aubrey isn't quite sure what there was to break.

"Where are you going?" she asks.

Stacie ignores her and pulls on her coat. "I'll see you tonight," she says, and leaves.

/

Aubrey doesn't expect Stacie to stay mad. She assumes they'll find themselves alone together before the night is over, but she's surprised to see Stacie clearly avoiding her.

She rides in Chloe's car to the concert, and she sees the other girl sending her pointed looks in the rearview for the entire trip.

"Come to the bathroom with me," Cynthia Rose insists as soon as they walk into the theater, tugging her arm in the direction of the concession stands.

"Yeah, we should probably go too," Beca says, but Cynthia Rose gives her a gentle push in the other direction.

"You guys can use that one," she says, pointing to the nearest bathroom.

"Where are you guys going, then?" Beca asks, confused.

"The other one," Cynthia Rose says vaguely. "We'll meet you at the seats in a few minutes, okay?"

Chloe agrees, but not without raising an eyebrow. Aubrey shrugs and follows Cynthia Rose. "What's going on?" she asks as soon as they're out of earshot of Beca and Chloe.

"Okay," Cynthia Rose starts, crossing her arms and turning to face her. "What are you doing with Stacie?"

Aubrey's mouth falls open a little. Of all things that could have happened, this is not what she would ever expect.

"What?"

"Come on," Cynthia says. "Just be honest."

"I—" She isn't sure if she's going to get punched, hugged, or both. "I'm not sure what—"

"Look," Cynthia says. "I used to have it pretty bad for her, so I know how it feels. But you actually _hit_ that, so, after offering my congratulations, I'd like to threaten you with death if you pull any shit with her."

"What the hell?" Aubrey says weakly.

"I just wanted to let you know that you're damn lucky," Cynthia Rose says with a shake of her head. "Most people would give an arm to be in your position. It's pretty obvious to everyone that you're into each other, so if I were you, I wouldn't waste time."

"There _isn't_ any time," Aubrey says, still nervous but giving up the ruse. "And even if I wanted anything to happen, she's leaving." The excuse feels tired even to her, and she's treated to another impressive eye roll from the girl in front of her.

"Just accept it," she says roughly. "You're into her. And things _have_ happened, and don't deny that you were cool with it. So…get it together."

"What's the point?"

"What's the point? Really? If you want her, don't mess her around. Just let her be happy with you, because everyone can see how hung up she is."

"No she isn't," Aubrey protests. "She just wants to sleep with me."

"You really believe that?"

"No," Aubrey admits, because it sounds ridiculous now that she's said it out loud.

"Good." Cynthia pats her on the shoulder. "I'm glad we talked. Just know that if you waste this opportunity, I will personally hate you forever."

/

She's sandwiched between Chloe and Fat Amy, and directly behind Stacie. The seats are small but they have a good view of the stage, and the band is good enough that she can almost ignore Chloe and Beca making out next to her. She stares at the back of Stacie's head to distract herself, observing how she moves to the music and cheers. When she runs a hand through her hair, a piece of it is left sticking up and Aubrey has to tuck her hands under her legs to keep from reaching to straighten it.

/

There's buzz about an after-party in Cynthia Rose and Emily's room, and Fat Amy disappears into a liquor store for half an hour while the rest of them stand on the sidewalk outside. Everyone's hyped up and Beca and Chloe are still attached by the lips. Aubrey tries to catch Stacie's eye, but the girl doesn't notice, too busy squealing with Jessica about the band, or else she _does_ notice and is just refusing to make eye contact.

Amy returns with several bags and piles them into Jessica and Ashley's arms, after fishing out a bottle of vodka. She opens it and takes a swig, and Cynthia Rose confiscates it quickly, with a warning that she'll never be forgiven if she gets them arrested before they even make it back to the hotel.

/

Aubrey gets more nervous with each drink she sees Stacie pour. She hates to admit that she's watching her, but the way she's throwing back shots is getting worrying. When she sees her line up yet another row of shots with Beca, she takes a step toward her but is intercepted by Chloe, who shoves a drink into her hand and pulls her into a twirl.

"Come dance!" Chloe laughs, clearly intoxicated. "Why aren't you drinking?"

"I am," Aubrey protests, and watches over Chloe's shoulder as Stacie finishes the line of shots, wobbles, and falls into Emily's arms with a laugh.

Chloe twists around to follow her line of sight, and must think she's looking at Beca because she waves her over. "Babe! Come dance with us!"

Aubrey would be curious about the use of "babe" if she wasn't so worried about Stacie, but she doesn't have another chance to see her because she's suddenly squished between Beca and Chloe in some sort of grind train.

When Chloe starts drunkenly talking about a threesome, though, she's had enough and she breaks away, claiming the need for the bathroom, and weaves through the other girls to the drink table, where Stacie appears to be teaching Emily how to play beer pong.

"No, don't throw underhand, it doesn't work as well," she slurs, leaning on Emily's shoulder. "Legacy, your aim is _so bad_. Now you have to drink again."

Flo, on the other side of the table, sinks a ball into a cup and Stacie hands it to Emily with a shrug. The younger girl's face is flushed and she chokes a little on the beer, but Stacie thumps her on the back and laughs. Emily turns and catches sight of Aubrey, and a look of relief comes over her face. "Aubrey! Come play!"

"No, thanks," Aubrey says. She sees Stacie's body stiffen but she doesn't turn around.

"Please," Emily begs. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Aubrey wants to refuse but Emily really does look like she's about to die, so she instructs her to go lie down and takes her place at the end of the table. She expects to play against Flo, but instead Stacie is pushed across from her and Flo takes on the role of "official reracker."

"Okay, look at each other, not the table, and whoever gets a ball in first, goes first," Flo instructs, pouring beer into the last of the cups and dropping the empty can onto the floor. She hands them each a ball and Aubrey sighs, finally raising her gaze to meet Stacie's.

Stacie's eyes are glazed but there's still a challenge evident in them. She stares straight at Aubrey and tosses her ball directly into a cup, while Aubrey's bounces pathetically onto the floor, nowhere near the table.

"Stacie goes first!" Flo announces. "Aubrey, you have to drink that."

The cup has probably half a can of beer in it, and Aubrey knows she's pulling a face as she chugs it. She'd forgotten how good Stacie was at beer pong, and her hopes to stay sober are dashed instantly.

The rest of the girls crowd around the table and Amy passes fresh drinks around the circle. Aubrey's the only one left who isn't yet hammered, but she doubts she can avoid it much longer since Stacie's next shot lands in another cup and she drinks again.

Aubrey misses the next four turns and Stacie makes every single one, but still refuses to look at her. Aubrey makes only one shot before all the cups on her side are gone, and the girls cheer and shove the cups on Stacie's side toward her.

Aubrey sighs and starts in on the cups. She knows she's going to feel like shit tomorrow, and really hopes Chloe isn't planning to leave early.

The alcohol is going to her head and she knows her face is bright red, so she steps away from the table. She tries to catch Stacie's eye but the girl ignores her and instead cheers when the girls send Beca forward to try and take her on.

The worry is back in full force and Aubrey whispers to Flo to fill the cups more lightly this time, but she doesn't listen, so Aubrey can only hope that Beca is just as awful as she is at the game. She turns away before she can find out, though, and the room is beginning to spin so she staggers to one of the beds and lets herself collapse onto it.

/

It's still dark out when she wakes. She squints at the clock next to the bed and sees that it's three in the morning, and she can't understand why she's awake until a hand wraps around her waist and warm lips move to her shoulder. She's still drunk and not even half-awake, so she doesn't question it, and there's no mistaking who it is.

Stacie's body presses against her back, her nose brushing Aubrey's neck and her hand splaying over her stomach. Her fingers sneak under her shirt and trace circles over her skin before moving to cup her breast over her bra. Aubrey bites her lip and squeezes her thighs together and Stacie clearly notices because she sucks hard against Aubrey's neck and grinds into her from behind.

Aubrey's desperate to kiss her but something breaks through the haze, telling her not to, so she stays put and reaches back to draw Stacie's leg up and over her hip, running her hand over her knee. Stacie's breath is ragged and broken with small noises of frustration, and her hand pulls Aubrey's bra down, slipping the straps off of her shoulders. She squeezes a nipple briefly between her fingers before her hand slips into her underwear. Aubrey gasps and her nails dig into Stacie's leg, and she begins to roll her hips into Stacie's hand, until there's a rustling from the next bed over and they jump apart.

She'd forgotten they weren't in their own room and she feels like she might have a heart attack. She can hear Stacie breathing next to her, and though she wants nothing more than to pull her close and kiss her, she buries her face in a pillow and forces herself back to sleep.

/

She's still mostly asleep when Chloe pulls her out of bed hours later. The redhead looks livid and Aubrey catches sight of Beca, looking tremendously guilty, packing a bag in the corner. "What's going on?"

"We're leaving," Chloe says shortly.

"Okay," Aubrey says, rubbing her eyes and steadying herself with a hand on the cabinet. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Chloe growls. "We're going back to Georgia today, and you're taking _Beca_ with you. I'm sure she'd like that better, anyway."

Aubrey stares in confusion. Dealing with a monster hangover and an angry Chloe at the same time is nearly impossible. "Chlo—"

"Just get on the road as soon as you can," Chloe says, grabbing her bags and leaving the room, the door clunking shut noisily behind her.

Aubrey turns to see Stacie sit up and rub her eyes, looking around blearily. "Are we leaving?" she mumbles, and Aubrey gets distracted by how cute she is for a moment before remembering that they're kind-of-fighting, and _then_ she remembers what happened last night and she knows she's blushing.

"Chloe wants us to leave as soon as we can," she answers. "She seemed really mad but I don't know why."

"Oh," Stacie says, and a look of recognition passes over her face. "Probably because Beca and I made out last night."

"What?" Aubrey says loudly.

"Dude!" Beca yells at almost the same time.

Stacie winces at the noise. "What? We did."

Beca throws her hands up and zips her bag forcefully. "Shut the fuck up, Stacie."

"Don't be such an asshole," Stacie snaps. "It was your idea."

"It was not!" Beca sounds close to tears.

Aubrey stands, dumbfounded, her brain unable to keep up. "What?" she repeats. "Is that—what?"

"Can we please just go?" Beca pleads, wiping her eyes. "I have to ride with you guys. I think Chloe took Jessica and Ashley with her. I don't know where anyone else is."

Aubrey realizes then that they're the last people left in the room, and she tries to pull herself together. "Okay. Let me get my bag and then we can check out."

"I'll meet you in the lobby," Beca says, and rushes past them.

Aubrey turns to Stacie, but the girl only holds up a hand. "Don't say anything," she warns. "Do you have the room key?"

/

They retrieve their bags from their room in silence and Aubrey checks them out at the front desk. They find Beca leaning against the car, and she climbs into the backseat as soon as Aubrey unlocks the doors. Stacie dithers for a moment before sliding into the passenger seat, where she immediately puts on her sunglasses and pulls out her headphones.

Aubrey, still trying to process the information about Stacie and Beca, ponders in silence as she sets the address into the GPS and backs out of the lot.

/

Ten minutes into the drive, Beca pipes up to ask her to make a pit stop at Starbucks. Aubrey doesn't need to be asked twice, and pulls into the nearest drive-thru. She was almost positive Stacie was asleep against the door, so when she leans over and orders a coffee, Aubrey chokes a little in surprise and the cashier has to ask three times what she'd like before she pulls herself together.

She passes Beca's coffee into the backseat with a warning not to spill on the seats. When she hands over Stacie's, their fingers brush despite her best efforts, and the barista probably thinks she's on drugs because she has to say "Ma'am?" another four times before Aubrey notices.

/

Beca and Stacie both fall asleep less than an hour later, and Aubrey turns the radio up to keep herself awake. The drive is four hours long and she's still to hungover to think clearly, so she zones out and stares at the GPS until they're within a few miles of the house. She pulls into the driveway behind Chloe and Fat Amy's cars. "We're here," she says.

Stacie stirs and climbs out of the car without a word, taking her bag with her into the house. Beca is dead asleep, and throws a punch at Aubrey when she tries to smack her awake.

"Fine, stay here then," Aubrey says grumpily. She's in no mood to deal with Beca, and something about the girl is thoroughly annoying her. She tries to tell herself it's the hangover, and not jealousy.

When she stumbles through the door, she drops her bag onto the floor and crashes onto the couch. The house is quiet and she's grateful for the opportunity to sleep away the rest of the alcohol.

/

She wakes up around nine when Jessica brings her water and a sandwich, and lets herself be dragged into Chloe's room. The redhead pulls her close and cries into her shoulder, and Aubrey kind of wants to do the same. She isn't sure whether either of them should be upset, because she doesn't even know what happened, but the little information that she does have is enough to make her almost wish this stupid road trip had never happened.

/

When she comes to the next morning, her first thought is that she has to be back at the lodge first thing the next morning. She only took eight days off and even though she's the manager, they can still throw her out if she doesn't show, especially since she's the only one who's trusted to handle the most difficult customers.

Chloe's still asleep next to her, so she rolls out of bed as quietly as possible. She catches a glimpse of herself in the vanity and decides that she isn't leaving until she'd had a shower, so she snags a towel from the small closet in the hallway, and disappears into the bathroom, glad no one is passed out on the floor.

She emerges, fresh-faced and re-energized, fifteen minutes later and is happy that she hasn't run into any of the girls on her way out. She loves them, but isn't in the mood for any tearful goodbyes. She'd rather be yelled at by Chloe than be smothered in hugs at this point.

These plans are dashed, however, when she sneaks through the living room.

"Leaving already?"

"Jesus, Stacie!" Aubrey clutches her chest and tries not to hyperventilate. "Give me a heart attack, why don't you!"

"Sorry," Stacie says, seemingly out of obligation, since she doesn't look apologetic. Aubrey stoops to pick up her duffel from where she'd dropped it and waits for Stacie to continue.

"It didn't mean anything. With Beca, I mean," Stacie says suddenly. "We just kissed, and only because we were so drunk. I—she's just my friend."

"Okay," Aubrey says. She tells herself she doesn't care, and tries to ignore the relief that fills her at Stacie's words.

"I just wanted you to know," Stacie says quietly.

"Thanks," Aubrey says.

Silence falls and it's awkward. Aubrey fiddles with her shirtsleeve and tries to think of something intelligent to say, but nothing springs to mind so she sighs and turns away. "Okay," she says. "I have to get back."

She lingers for a moment with her hand on the doorknob, but there's nothing but silence behind her, so she wrenches open the door and leaves.

/

The bustle of the lodge feels simultaneously homely and draining. She throws herself into organizing boot camp for a group of employees from a startup company and rearranging the bear trap locations. The thought of people tripping them accidentally doesn't amuse her like it usually does, though.

She receives several angry texts from Chloe, their content in all-caps, berating her for leaving without saying goodbye. She agrees to let Chloe come up and take her to dinner out of guilt, because though she loves her best friend, she almost wants nothing to do with any of the Bellas.

They set a date and Chloe tells her to dress up. Something about the way she insists on a certain day, and tells her to take the day after off, makes Aubrey slightly suspicious.

/

At seven o'clock on Thursday night, Aubrey's putting the finishing touches on her makeup when a soft knock sounds at the door. She instantly knows it isn't Chloe, since her best friend never knocks anything but loudly, and she opens the door to exactly what she was expecting.

Stacie stands just outside the door, wearing a black dress and looking absolutely beautiful. Aubrey leans against the doorframe and raises an eyebrow.

"Surprise?" Stacie tries, looking unsure as to why Aubrey looks so unamused.

"Chloe is _not_ subtle," Aubrey says in lieu of a greeting. She sighs. "Come in."

Stacie steps inside and places her purse on the back of the couch, looking around uncertainly. "So you knew I was coming?"

"Since Chloe said she absolutely _had_ to take me to dinner on Thursday night, which is, incidentally, the night before you leave for college, I put it together. Not to mention, she posted on Facebook earlier about going to dinner with Beca tonight."

Stacie laughs. "She told me you totally fell for it. I should have known you wouldn't."

"I know her too well," Aubrey smiles. She notices then how easy the atmosphere feels; she'd forgotten that she they were mad at each other. Maybe they aren't anymore. She's having a hard time thinking about anything but the low neckline of Stacie's dress, anyway.

Stacie clears her throat. "So…I wanted to take you to dinner. I thought maybe we could talk."

Aubrey isn't sure whether that's really a good idea, but she reminds herself that maybe Stacie is here only to repair their friendship so she can leave on good terms. There's no reason to assume that Stacie is here to ask for a relationship, and even if she does, there isn't a way to have one.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Sorry," Aubrey responds, realizing she's been silent for too long.

"It's all right." Stacie says. "You just looked sad."

Aubrey shakes her head. "I'm fine. Yes, let's go to dinner."

/

Stacie drives them, in Chloe's car, to a small restaurant about fifteen minutes away. The ride there is silent, and Aubrey feels the awkwardness creeping back in.

When they arrive, they both leap out of the car. Stacie holds the door of the restaurant open for her with a small smile, and they're shown to their table where they sit opposite each other and bury their faces immediately in the menu.

Aubrey feels nervous, unsure how to start a conversation. She waits until after they give their drink orders, and then places her menu back onto the table with a sigh. Stacie does the same, and finally meets her eyes.

"I don't want this to be weird," she admits.

"Me neither," Aubrey says, grateful that the silence is broken. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Basically, I didn't want to leave without saying goodbye," she begins.

"You're here to say goodbye?" Aubrey asks, hoping the disappointment is evident in her voice.

"Well, no," Stacie backtracks. "I mean, yes, but not until tomorrow."

"You'll be here tomorrow?"

Stacie buries her face in her hands. "Oh my god. Okay, I'm fucking this up."

"It's okay," Aubrey says, hoping her face isn't red.

"What I'm trying to say is that yes, I'm here to send you off, but I'm also here to apologize." She takes a deep breath. "I was a dick to you and it was really uncalled for. I didn't have the guts to tell you how I really felt about you. I wasn't sure how I felt at first, honestly, but after the first couple of days I couldn't really deny it. I—I really like you," she says quietly, blushing furiously. Aubrey bites back a smile.

"I think I was trying to tell myself that you were just another notch on the bedpost, you know, but really you're more than that. I just knew that we only had two weeks and after that I was going to leave. I guess I was scared to tell you how I felt about you because either way, we only had two weeks, and if I told you and you didn't feel the same, we wouldn't even have that. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah," Aubrey says. "For what it's worth, though, I do feel the same way."

"Good," Stacie says, biting her lip. She reaches tentatively across the table and tangles their fingers together. Her hand is warm and Aubrey sighs; less than week had passed since she last felt Stacie's skin but she hadn't realized how much she already missed it.

"Anyway," Stacie presses on, rubbing circles into the back of Aubrey's hand, "I couldn't decide whether or not to come see you, but I decided that I didn't want to leave things how they were, even though I know it'll be horrible to say goodbye to you tomorrow." She blinks quickly and Aubrey squeezes her hand, fighting back tears herself.

"But…I think it'll be worth it. I wanted one more night with you. One night when we've told each other how we feel, just so we'll know how it could have been. And maybe…how it can be, sometime in the future, but not now, because I can't do long-distance. It'll ruin us." Her gaze is desperate, and she's clearly crying now.

"I agree," Aubrey says quietly. "I don't want to do long-distance either. We'll be too far away, and I don't want you to tie yourself down to someone who can't give you what you need."

"Yeah," Stacie sniffs, wiping her eyes. "I want to leave when we're like this, so I can remember us being perfect, and then maybe we'll pick up where we left off when we see each other again." She pauses. "Is that—I mean, is all of this okay with you? Or do you want me to leave tonight? Because I'm totally fine with that, I can just—"

"No, I want you to stay with me tonight," Aubrey says quickly. "And I'll take you to the airport tomorrow."

"I can take a cab though, if you want."

"No, I want to take you. It's no problem. I took tomorrow off from work."

"Okay," Stacie whispers. "Thank you."

The waitress comes to take their orders so they break apart reluctantly, and Aubrey begins to wish for dinner to be over.

/

The ride back is silent, but it isn't awkward; the air is charged with anticipation and Aubrey doesn't hesitate before taking Stacie's hand in her own while she drives.

They step out of the car quickly when Stacie pulls into the parking lot. "Chloe said she and Beca are coming to get the car sometime next week," she says, reclaiming Aubrey's hand and leading the way to the house.

"So they made up?"

"Yeah," Stacie says, cheeks coloring. "Beca and I managed to convince her fairly quickly that we don't like each other that way—because I swear, we don't. I don't think she ever thought we did, anyway. She was just stressed because the road trip went so badly, I think."

Aubrey nods. "I mean, I love her to death but she's really bad at organizing events, isn't she?"

"She seriously is," Stacie says with a chuckle. "Tonight is another perfect example."

Aubrey laughs and steps forward to unlock the door. She drops her keys onto the counter and turns to face Stacie.

The amusement is gone from her face, replaced with quiet desire. Aubrey reaches to tuck her hair behind her ears, tracing the line of her cheek with her finger, and Stacie's eyes close slowly, a muscle in her jaw twitching. Aubrey lets her hand travel to the back of her neck and brings Stacie's head down slowly until she can connect their lips.

They both moan into the kiss and Stacie cups her jaw with her hands, bringing their bodies together. She's still in her heels while Aubrey already removed her own, so Stacie towers over her and has to bend down to reach her. Aubrey nudges her and Stacie kicks her shoes off, bringing her down to a comfortable height.

Aubrey pulls back after a few more moments, and Stacie looks panicked for half a second before Aubrey tugs her hand and begins leading her toward the bedroom. She's never been gladder to _not_ be living with the Bellas; it was nearly impossible to bring someone home to that house with everyone constantly up in each other's business.

When they reach the bedroom she pulls Stacie into her, catching her lips again and backing her into the wall. She tracks her mouth over her jaw and then down her neck, lingering over her collarbones and then burying her face in the deep neckline of the dress. Stacie's chest is already heaving and her hands are in Aubrey's hair, her head thrown back against the wall. Aubrey peels the dress down, frustrated when she finds a strapless bra. The dress is too tight for her to get her hands under so she steps back with a sigh and motions for Stacie to lift her arms.

She peels the dress up until it's over her head and she can drop it to the floor. Stacie's wearing black lingerie and Aubrey feels her mouth go dry, torn between the wish to have her naked and the temptation to keep her like this forever.

Before she can make any decisions, Stacie pushes off the wall and walks around until she's behind her. She unzips her dress slowly and lets it pool on the floor, guiding her to turn back around to face her. Stacie's eyes roam hungrily over her body, taking in her own set of lacy blue underwear.

"Is this all for Chloe?" Stacie asks lowly, slipping her fingers under the bra straps.

"Oh, definitely," Aubrey nods. "But _this_ —" She guides Stacie's hand down her body and into her underwear. "Is for you."

Stacie groans and her fingers slick over her between her legs. She slips one inside, just for a moment, before she sets her hands on Aubrey's waist and sits her down on the bed. Standing between her thighs, she reaches down to unsnap Aubrey's bra and runs her hands over the exposed skin of her back. Aubrey leans forward, pressing hot kisses to her stomach until it isn't enough and she pushes her down onto the bed and climbs on top.

She reaches under Stacie to undo her bra and drags it slowly down her arms. She drops her head at once to take a nipple into her mouth and Stacie rewards her with a drawn-out moan that makes Aubrey grind once against her, trying to relieve some of the tension building in her pelvis. Stacie's hips jerk into her own, their legs tangling clumsily, and Aubrey allows herself to rock into her, knowing she's likely to explode if she doesn't.

"Aubrey," Stacie pants, hands scrambling for purchase on her lower back. "I can't—if you keep doing that, I'm going to lose it."

Aubrey forces herself to still her hips, but she can't pull herself away so she kisses Stacie as deeply as she can, one hand on her jaw and the other working over her chest. Finally she breaks away and begins moving her kisses downward.

She traces Stacie's collarbones for long minutes, studying the dip between the delicate ridges, and how they bridge the divide between her neck and her chest. She places a hand just below them, on the plane of skin over her heart, feeling the firm muscle and how it jumps and twitches under her fingers.

Finally she drops a single kiss there, and then opens her mouth against the skin, covering every inch of her chest in wet kisses. One of Stacie's legs wraps around her waist, but it slips away when Aubrey's mouth travels to her sternum and then over her stomach.

Aubrey feels her start to tremble, and she sinks her teeth gently into her skin, circling her hipbones and tracing the line of her underwear. Stacie's hand doesn't leave her hair, and Aubrey's name leaves her lips with nearly every breath she releases.

Aubrey presses her mouth against her just once, over her underwear, before she can't wait any longer. She drags the garment down her long legs and then finally takes her into her mouth.

She sighs at the same time Stacie gasps. The hand in her hair scratches at her scalp, urging her on and begging her not to stop. Aubrey wraps her hands around Stacie's thighs, pulling her closer and flattening her tongue against her. It's almost like playing an instrument; Stacie makes a different noise for every movement of Aubrey's mouth, and Aubrey wants to hear all of those sounds forever.

Stacie's legs start to close around her head and she pushes them apart again. She can tell Stacie is trying not to pull her hair from the way her fingers tense, and she doubles her efforts with her tongue. Stacie cries out and her legs squeeze closed again, her entire body seizing. Aubrey's ears are muffled by her thighs but she still hears her name fall from Stacie's lips, over and over until her body relaxes and she pulls Aubrey up to kiss her.

/

When Stacie rolls her over and begins to make her way down her body, Aubrey stops her. She isn't ready to stop kissing her yet; every moment that she is without Stacie's lips on her own feels like a wasted moment, somehow.

"Just keep kissing me," she pleads, and Stacie does. She leaves her left hand on Aubrey's cheek, tilting her head, and her right trails down her body and into her underwear. She pulls it down after a few moments and Aubrey kicks it away, and Stacie returns her hand to her, slipping two fingers inside of her and anchoring her hand behind her thigh.

She presses into her slowly, but her thumb rubs quick circles into her clit, the variance in pace making Aubrey's body arch up and off the bed, searching for more closeness. She has to break the kiss when she finds herself without enough air, but Stacie presses her lips to the corner of her mouth and holds steady.

She doesn't fight the orgasm when she feels it begin to creep up her spine, her body seizing. She finds Stacie's lips again, kissing her desperately and pulling her impossibly closer as she stays, suspended, not sure if she's going to pass out, or her brain is about to short-circuit.

Stacie stays patiently with her until she relaxes back into the bed, her body buzzing and mind, for the moment, free of anxiety about the coming days.

She feels like she should say something but she doesn't know what, so she stays quiet and drags her hand down Stacie's body. She's already feeling their time running out and she can't bear the thought of wasting a single moment.

/

She's exhausted when her alarm goes off at nine the next morning. Stacie says something unintelligible in her sleep and wraps herself tighter around Aubrey, lips whispering over the skin of her neck.

"We have to get up," Aubrey says reluctantly. "We only have an hour and a half until we have to leave."

"Can't we just stay here forever?" Stacie mumbles. "Who needs grad school?"

Aubrey tries to laugh but it comes out like a sob, and doesn't answer. Instead, she rolls Stacie onto her back and kisses her desperately.

/

The airport is an hour's drive away, and they spend the time singing to the radio and yelling out the window. They could have talked, or cried, or fooled around, but having one last hour of near-normalcy feels like the best thing they can do. Aubrey tries to burn the image of Stacie screaming out the window for some driver to "use your god-damn blinker" into her mind, hoping to remember the way her hair blows around her face and her arms flair ridiculously.

Stacie falls back, laughing, onto the seat, when the driver passes them and flips them off. "What a douche," she says conversationally, and reaches for Aubrey's hand. Her smile fades when Aubrey takes the airport exit off the highway, and she clutches her hand tightly. "Can't you drive slower?" she begs.

/

"Go," Aubrey says. "You'll miss your flight."

Stacie looks miserable; her eyes brim with tears and she grips Aubrey's hand so tight it starts to go numb. "I don't want to."

"You have to," Aubrey chokes. She wipes the tears away impatiently with her sleeve and pulls Stacie in for a hug. Stacie drops her hand and her arms wrap tightly around her, burying her face in Aubrey's neck and pressing a kiss to the warm skin there.

"Come with me," she says desperately, and Aubrey wants nothing more than to follow her into the terminal and all the way to Maryland, but she can't leave her work, and she knows that they won't make it if she goes.

"I can't, baby, I'm sorry," Aubrey says, pulling back a little to look her in the eye. "I have to stay here, but you're going to go there and become a kick-ass doctor, okay?"

"I'll wait for you," Stacie says brokenly.

"Don't," Aubrey says, and she hates herself for the way Stacie's face clouds and she looks away. "Don't do that to yourself."

Stacie shakes her head. "I love you," she admits.

Aubrey's chest aches and she shuts her eyes. She's angry with herself for letting this happen, because she never meant for them to fall in love with each other and she knows Stacie didn't either, but now here they are.

"I love you too," she whispers, grasping the front of Stacie's shirt and kissing her hard. Stacie presses her against the side of the car and they stay there for long moments, neither wanting to pull away because doing so will only make this that much more real.

Aubrey finally breaks the kiss, placing one hand on Stacie's shoulder and the other on her cheek, wiping away the tears that gather there. "I love you," she repeats, pressing their lips together once more before Stacie steps back and picks up her bags.

"Do you want me to come in with you?" Aubrey asks.

Stacie shakes her head. "If you do I'll never get on the plane. Just stay here."

"Okay," Aubrey whispers. She bites down on her lip and takes a step back, hoping that a few more inches of distance between them will make things easier. It doesn't.

"I'll visit you," Aubrey promises, but they both know she won't. It will only make things excruciatingly hard and they both know they can't handle going through this all over again.

"Okay," Stacie says. "Can I call you?"

"Yes," Aubrey says. She can handle a phone call. "Please."

"I will," Stacie promises. "As soon as I get off the plane."

"Yeah. And let me know how you like Hopkins and everything," Aubrey says, trying valiantly to plaster a smile onto her face. "I'm sure you'll love it."

Stacie just nods and wipes her eyes, pressing one final kiss to Aubrey's lips before she turns around and walks away, and Aubrey's left to grasp the door of the car until her knuckles are white, fighting desperately against the urge to follow her.

Maybe someday when Stacie's done with school and she finds a way to leave the lodge they'll see each other again, but for now all she can do is watch Stacie turn and walk away, trying to memorize the way she looks before she doors of the terminal close behind her and she's gone.


End file.
